When Three Are Called
by DaBillmann
Summary: As mankind approaches the 2000th year, the forces of evil will swell in number and gather at The Mouth Of Hell, and it's power will grow. At this time, three will be called on to fight to save the world. And help will come in the form of the Wolf, the Warrior, the Witch and the Wraith. But will it be enough to save the world, When Three Are Called?
1. Prologue

A/N: This story may seem a little strange. I'm very blatantly using elements from both Shared Destiny and The Chosen Four. Ok, some might say directly ripping them off, LOL. This story just started niggling its way around in my brain, and I had to start writing it. It's something of a re-imagining and combination of both stories. It's going to have elements that probably don't appeal to a lot of readers including a sort of male Slayer. I'm writing this story for myself, but posting it just in case it is of appeal to others. If it is NOT of interest to people, I am ok with that, but, please don't send me a lot of flaming "this story sucks" reviews. Story is listed as a Buffy/Glee crossover. Characters will be from those two fandoms and at least one OC,but I am using Teen Wolf style werewolves instead of the Buffy style, as well as elements from Highlander. Rating this story M for language, violence, probable sexual situations, and possible spanking or spanking references.

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Glee, Teen Wolf, Highlander, or any other fandoms I may use elements from in this story. I only own the story itself and any OC's I use. I make no money off of any of this.

 **When Three Are Called**

 **by DaBillmann**

 **Prologue.**

 **Los Angeles, California, January 19, 1981**

Joyce Summers awoke to see her husband Hank smiling down at her. She smiled weakly back up at him. "Hi," she said softly.

"Hi," said Hank smiling down at her. "How do you feel?"

Joyce grimaced. "Like I just had my stomach cut open and three human beings pulled out," she answered.

Hank laughed. "Well, that's exactly what happened," he answered. Joyce had been carrying triplets, and it had become clear late in her pregnancy that she would not be able to deliver via natural childbirth. So, when they got closer to her projected due date, a cesarean section had been scheduled.

"Are the babies ok?" Joyce asked him. "Have you seen them?"

Hank beamed. "I have," he told her. "We are now the proud parents of three beautiful, perfect, babies, 2 girls, and one boy, just like Dr. Curtis said." Both looked over as three nurses entered, each smiling and holding a baby.. One nurse came over and put the biggest of the three, the boy, in Joyce's arms. He was a quiet little guy with jet black hair and green eyes. Joyce chuckled as he seemed to regard her speculatively. "Hello Billy, my handsome, quiet little man," she said .He was the only one of the three they had decided on a name for, William after Hanks father, and Gordon after Joyce's. They had middle names for the girls, but nothing felt right, so Hank had agreed to go with the first names Joyce came up with.

"He's been the most well behaved so far," said Hank, proudly. "And already protective of his sisters. He only seems to fuss when they're fussing, and he calms down when THEY calm."

Joyce chuckled. and handed him off to his proud father, as another nurse put the second baby, actually the first born, (Billy had been second) in her arms. She was the tiniest of the three and the only blonde. The baby immediately started fussing and crying, setting off first her sister, then her brother.

"She's been the fussiest of the three," said Hank, "a total princess."

"Shhhhh, Baby," said Joyce softly, trying to calm her. "Mommy is here. Shhhhhh." No matter what she tried, the baby just kept carrying on, making the other two babies fuss more and more. Then, as Hank moved a little closer, she quieted a bit, as if her brothers presence had a calming effect on her. And as Hank had said, when she stopped fussing, so did Billy. Joyce shook her head in wonder as she examined the baby who had nuzzled up to her. "Buffy Anne," she said, looking down at her lovingly.

Hank grimaced a bit, indicating the third baby. "Is she Jodie then?" he asked her teasingly.

Joyce rolled her eyes and handed Buffy off to Hank as a third nurse approached. "Jodie was a boy, smart ass," she said taking the third baby. If Billy was quiet, this little one seemed to not be able to hold still, and seemed to give Joyce an irritated look when Joyce kissed her on the forehead.

"Aw, don't fuss, you little firecracker," said Joyce, imemdiately enchanted by the baby's dark brown hair and chocolate colored, eyes. The baby calmed a bit.

"She actually kicked the doctor when he took her out," said Hank, laughing. "She's a fighter."

Joyce smiled down at her. " Faith Marie," she said.

"That's perfect," said Hank.

Joyce scooched over as well as the bed would allow, and Hank joined her. They both smiled adoringly down at their instant family. For their part, the babies seemed to put their little heads together, making Joyce choke up a bit, just having this feeling the three would always be close.

"Welcome to the world, Buffy Anne, William Gordon, and Faith Marie Summers,' whispered Hank proudly. "I know all three of you are destined for great things!"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 **Sunnydale, California, September, 1986**

Quinn Fabray was both excited and nervous. It was her first day of school! She'd been looking forward to this since she first heard about school. Everybody told Quinn she was a smart little girl, she could even already read a little. But, she was also a little shy, so she was nervous. What would the other kids think of her? What if she didn't make any friends? What if everybody was wrong and she was dumb? She clung to Mommy's leg as they waited their turn to talk to her new teacher. The teacher was talking to a pretty woman who looked a bit like what Quinn's Daddy called "Spanic". Quinn looked around as they waited their turn and frowned as she noticed three boys who were bigger than the others sitting together and pointing at a girl with red hair and laughing. Quinn felt bad for her. Finally, the other woman left and it was their turn.

"Hello Mrs. Talbert," said Quinn's Mommy. "I'm Judy Fabray and this is my daughter Quinn."

"Hi Quinn," said Mrs. Talbert. "I'm glad to have you here. I think we're going to have lots of fun today." She was a pretty lady about Mommy's age with brown hair.

"It's nice to meet you," said Quinn. "Just fun? Aren't we going to learn anything?"

"Quinnie!" Mommy gently scolded, then chuckled. "I'm afraid my little one here has been looking forward to this. She loves to learn."

"Oh we're going to learn lots of cool stuff," said Mrs. Talbert. She leaned in to Quinn and whispered conspiritorially "I think learning is fun."

Quinn grinned. "Me too!" she said. Mommy and Mrs. Talbert chuckled a little, then shook hands, then Mommy left and Mrs. Talbert walked Quinn over to a table. There were three other girls sitting there. All three were very pretty, one had dark brown hair, another was tall with long blonde hair, and the third hads black hair and caramel colored skin. Quinn was jealous. She wished she was as pretty as these girl.

"You can sit here , Quinn," said Mrs. Talbert. Quinn nodded and took her seat.

"Hi!" said the blonde with a big, sweet smile smile. "I'm Brittany S. Pierce." Quinn found herself smiling back at the other girl. It was almost impossible not to.

"I'm Cordelia Chase," said the brown haired girl. Quinn looked at her. She seemed a little stuck up.

"I'm Santana Lopez," said the girl with the caramel colored skin.

"Hi," said Quinn. She didn't know why but she felt really comfortable with these three, even if Cordelia DID seem a little stuck up. "I'm Quinn Fabray."

Miss Talbert looked over at the noisy table and shushed them so she could start class.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Santana was really enjoying her first day of school. She had been a little sad because her Papi could not take her to school with her Mami, because he was a doctor and VERY busy helping people not to be sick anymore, but he HAD arranged his 'pointments so that he could have breakfast with her. He kissed her and hugged her and told her to have a super day and makes lotsa new friends. She'd been excited about it and sure enough, she'd met Brittany, Quinn and Cordelia and the day had been even better than he'd expected. The four of them had become fast friends and had done almost everything together. The only down side had been when a red haired girl named Willow had started crying because she'd broken a yellow crayon. Only a boy name Xander had been able to cheer her up. Apparently, they already knew each other. Santana, Quinn and Cordelia left the girls bathroom and went looking for the others.

They got outside to find a big crowd. Xander and another boy named Jesse were trying to fight with three bigger boys, Larry Blaisdale, Azimio Adams and Davy Karofsky, but were not doing very well. Willow was nearby crying and screaming for them to stop, while Brittany was hugging her. .Santana and the others came over to them. "What's going on?" asked Santana.

"They were picking on me for crying earlier," said Willow, still crying. "Xander tried to make them stop, and they started p-pushing him! Then one of them hit him and Jesse hit HIM, then they all started fighting."

Santana got mad. She always did have a temper. Those guys were a lot bigger than Xander and Jesse. She charged forward and grabbed Davy by the arm. "Knock it off, you jerks!" she yelled.

"You gonna make us?" asked Davy. He turned away from her.

Yeah!" yelled Santana as she launched herself onto Davy's back, pulling his hair and punching him. Davy looked confused, not sure how to get her off his back. Azimo grabbed her arm and dragged her part way off. But, a rock hit him in the back. Quinn and Cordelia had started throwing rocks at the bigger boys. Azimio had to ignore Santana and try not to get hurt by one of the flying missiles. Santana climbed the rest of the way onto Larry's back and started hitting him again.

Mrs. Talbert was drawn in by the commotion and came running in, blowing her whistle. In the end, it took four teachers to separate the brawling kids and drag them to the principals office, Willow and Brittany following and trying to explain. As they sat there and waited for their parents, Santana, Brittany, and Quinn all exchanged looks. A bond had been formed there and somehow, they just knew they would be friends forever.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 **Los Angeles, California 1996.**

In a cemetery, in Los Angeles California, a newly called vampire Slayer, faced her first vampire.

Her Watcher was so far, unimpressed. The vampire had just knocked the Slayer, Buffy, flat on her back and jumped on top of her. Buffy had lost her grip on her stake, and she reached for it, but, it was just outside of her grasp.

Merrick, the Watcher, sighed. He knew he couldn't expect much. Somehow, this girl had slipped through the cracks, and nobody had been assigned to train her for the day she might one day be called as the Slayer. So, Merrick had more work to do than most Watchers did with a newly called , though Buffy DID possess all the gifts that Slayers received so that was something at least.

"Remember," Merrick called to her. "You're stronger and faster now. Use that strength."

Instinctively, Buffy reached her hands underneath the vampire and managed to push him off of her. He went flying over and landed on his watched as Buffy got onto her hands and knees and crawled to where her stake was. muttering "ohgodohgodsohgodohgod" the whole time. She scooped up the stake and rushed back over to the vampire and plunged the stake down...

...into his gut. Merrick rolled his eyes.

"Oh! Not the heart!" squeaked Buffy as she pulled the stake back and tried again. This time, she hit her mark and the vampire exploded into dust.

Merrick came over. He was moderately proud. Sure, for a Slayer who'd received the proper training, that was sloppy, but, for her first encounter, well, to quote the kids today, it didn't suck. "You see?" he asked her. "You see your power?" Buffy didn't answer. She just stared at the spot where the vampire had been. Merrick started to give her what he hoped would be a pep talk, but suddenly he was knocked to the ground, the curve bladed knife he was holding clattering to the ground. He looked up to see three more vampires. Two of them grabbed Buffy and hauled her to her feet. The third kicked him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him, and stood on his chest.

"Look what we have here," said the one with his foot on Merricks chest. "A creepy old guy with a teenage girl." The other two vampire's dragged a struggling Buffy over. "I don't know how you did it, girl, but you just killed Mitch. I have a problem with that. See, I'm building a gang, and you just took out my newest member." He backhanded Buffy, splitting her lip, and making her whimper. Merrick figured these vampires were young, a Slayer should have no problem with the three of them. But, again, Buffy's lack of training and confidence was about to get them both killed.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OUR SISTER!" came a male voice from some nearby trees. Merrick and the vampires looked to see two teenagers, a boy and a girl come running in, the boy with jet black hair, the girl with chocolate brown. Both looking to be abotu the same age as Buffy. The boy ran up and punched the lead vampire, amazingly, sending him back onto his backside, freeing Merrick.

"Bill?" asked Buffy, questioningly.

The girl grabbed the arm of one of the two holding Buffy and twisted it, making him let go of her. Then she punched him in the face, again, miraculously knocking him down.

"Faith?" asked Buffy. She quickly regained her senses and elbowed the third vampire in the gut, breaking his grip, and flipped him to the ground. Merrick watched in amazement as the three teenagers stood side by side and the three vampires got to their feet.

Faith, clearly the most aggressive of the three, jumped at the same vampire she had just knocked down. . She threw a series of punches at him that clearly showed she had some formal training. The vampire blocked a few of the punches, but, the ones that landed, well, if Merrick was any judge, landed not quite as hard as Buffy's. She was just as fast though.

Bill, jumped at another of the vampires He was clearly a better fighter than Faith, at least, more of his blows landed, though, his was a much more brawling style. And his punches seemed to be doing way too much damage for a human boy to be doing, probably just as hard as the Slayers.

Buffy faced off with the leader. her fighting style was sloppier than either Bill's or Faiths, obviously she had no formal training, but she was fast and strong and managed to tag the vampire a number of times. The leader though, was obviously a skilled fighter, and managed to block a number of them.

Bill grabbed his vampire by the lapels of his jacket and punched him solidly in the face, dazing him. "Never," he yelled punching him again. "ever," another punch. "EVER," another punch. "Mess with one of my sisters!" The vampire went to his knees, prone. Merrick took out the stake he was carrying in case he needed it and tossed it to Bill.

"In the heart!" he yelled. Bill looked at him, but, all three vampires were in their vamp faces, so, she did what he said, managing to hit the heart the first time.

"Wow" said Bill as the vampire turned to dust.

Faith, meanwhile, had been doing well against her own vampire, but, the beast managed to tag her with a powerful roundhouse punch, sending her flying to the ground. She groaned and turned over, noticing she had landed near something that shined in the moonlight. As she reached over and picked it up, . Merrick realized he must have dropped his kukri knife when he was knocked looked more confident as she looked at the knife, her eyes actually gleaming. "Yeah," she whispered, jumping to her feet and attacking the vampire. The knife almost seemed to be an extension of herself. Most of her slashes landed, quickly whittling the vampire down. He collapsed to his knees and Faith instinctively swung the blade down on his neck, decapitating him and turning him to dust.

She looked at the knife then grinned at Merrick. "I LIKE it!" she exclaimed, making Merrick roll his eyes.

Buffy, though she was clearly looking more confident to Merrick, was having a little trouble as well. She was taking fewer blows than Bill and Faith had, but, again, the vampire was also a skilled fighter. Finally, she managed to land a one two punch combination, follow it up with a kick to his stomach, then grabbed him and flung him, head first, through a gravestone, shattering the stone and knocking the vampire still had her stake and easily dusted the unconscious vampire and turned to the other two.

Bill wrapped his arms around the two girls in a protective hug. "God!" said Buffy. "What are you two doing here?"

"You were acting so weird earlier today," said Faith. "We knew something was up, so we followed you."

"We lost you for a bit," added Bill."Faith finally heard the scuffling and we ran over in time to see that guy hit you." He looked around, then looked at Merrick who was rising. "Now, what..."

"...the FUCK..."continued Faith.

"...is going on?" they both finished.

Merrick came over, still a little dazed and clearly confused. "Buffy," he said. "Who are these two?"

Buffy sighed. "Merrick, these are my brother, Bill and my sister, Faith," she said. "We're fraternal triplets. Guys, this is Merrick. I know this is going to be hard for you to believe, but, I'm a vampire Slayer and Merrick is my Watcher."

Bill, Faith, and Merrick all three looked stunned.

"Triplets?" asked Merrick. As far as he knew, no Slayer had ever had a twin, much less been one of triplets. His eyes went wide as he looked at Bill and Faith and replayed the events in his head. "Oh my God!" He looked at both of them, especially Bill. "This is completely impossible, but, somehow

"You two are Slayers too!"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A/N2: Not a lot changed in the prologue. Bill's middle name (I changed it to Gordon in homage to the fact that my OC is usually named Bill Gordon), and the fight scene , and the age order of the triplets. Buffy is now the oldest and Faith the youngest. Hope you enjoyed. If you want to review, and reviewed this chapter the first go round, please either shoot me an IM or review in the chapter announcing the revision.


	2. Chapter 1 Welcome To The Hellmouth Pt1

_There will come a time, as mankind approaches the 2000th year when evil's power will grow, and it's ranks will swell in number , and they will gather at the Mouth Of Hell._

 _When Three Are Called._

 _Something will happen that has never happened before. A woman will give birth to three babies, two girls and a boy. Both girls will be Slayer Potentials and will all be called to fight the growing forces of evil._

 _When Three Are Called._

 _And one of the girls will somehow split her power with the boy, resulting in the first male "Slayer" in history. They will aid their sister and together they will become known as The Chosen Three._

 _When Three Are Called._

 _And they will face evil the likes of which no slayer before has faced. But, they will not fight alone_

 _When Three Are Called._

 _First will come the Wolf,_

 _Then will come The Warrior_

 _Then will come The Witch,_

 _When Three Are Called._

 _But, will it be enough to save the world,_

 _When Three Are Called?_ **Rudolphus of Crete. Watcher and Seer during the end of The Roman Empire**_

 **Chapter One, Welcome To The Hellmouth Pt. 1.**

 **Sunnydale California 1997.**

"A-are you sure about this, Josh?" the beautiful blond girl asked. Josh Randall looked over at her. Oh yes, she was HOT! With her blond hair, innocent expression, and the Catholic schoolgirl uniform that was hugging her petite but shapely frame. She looked a little older than most girls who went to St Christophers, a nearby Catholic private school, but Josh didn't care. She was hot ,and she definitely seemed interested.

"Don't worry," said Josh, putting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Nobody is ever in the school this time of night. But hey, if you're nervous, we don't HAVE to do this." Josh didn't want to scare the girl off. Not too many girls showed much of an interest in him. He was very average. Brown hair, brown eyes, thin, not terribly athletic or artistic. He got good grades but wasn't even really a brain. He'd been amazed when this beautiful girl had given him the eye. Then, when he'd finally gotten up the nerve to talk to her, she had asked if they could go somewhere private. He decided to try to impress her by breaking into Sunnydale High School, and they now stood in one of the classrooms.

"It's ok," said the girl, giving him a small smile. "I'm not scared if you're with me."Josh thought he saw something almost...predatory in her blue eyes, but figured that had to be a trick of the poor lightning. "You're sure, though, that nobody else is here?"

"I'm sure,"said Josh.

"Good," said the girl. Suddenly, her face changed. Her eyes turned yellow, her teeth grew to fangs, and her face took on a bumpy ridgey look. Josh screamed as the last thing he felt was sharp teeth sinking into his neck.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

 _She tossed and turned in her sleep, racked with nightmares. Mostly a disjointed collection of images. A homeless man wandering down an alley, then being attacked by something._

 _A disembodied voice saying " I'll take you... like a cancer. I'll get inside you and eat my way out."_

 _A horrible white demonic face._

 _"I'll destroy you. I'll destroy your sister. I'll destroy your brother."_

 _("Buffy!")_

 _A pool of blood._

 _("Buffy!")_

 _And roars coming out of the shadows._

 _"BUFFY!"_

Buffy's eyes snapped open and she sat straight up in her bed, feeling a little disoriented as she tried to shake off the effects of the dream. For a moment, she really didn't remember where she was, then she looked over at the other two bed's in the room and saw her sister's, Faith and Marley , looking at her worriedly. She also saw all the half unpacked boxes piled around.

 _Oh, right. Sunnydale._

After the trouble in LA, leading to she, Faith, and their brother Bill getting kicked out of school, then their parents divorce, Buffy, Faith, Marley and Bill's mother, Joyce, had packed them up and moved here to Sunnydale. She'd bought a nice house, with three bedrooms and two bath's, one connected to the master bedroom. With three teenage girls around Joyce had decided to put the three of them in the master bedroom, so they could have their own bathroom. Joyce herself had taken the next largest bedroom and was fine with sharing a bathroom with Bill.

Buffy, Faith, and Bill were fraternal triplets, Buffy being the oldest, Buffy next, and then Faith. Apparently, their parents had not learned their lesson after that because, 14 months later, Marley was born. Bill, Faith and Buffy were Sophomore's in high school and had just turned 16 a few weeks ago, and Marley, a Freshman, was turning 15 next month.

"Bad dreams?" asked Faith looking worried.

Buffy nodded. "Part of the whole Slayer package," she sighed.

Last year, Buffy had been approached by a strange man called Merrick, who claimed Buffy had been called as The Vampire Slayer. It turned out he was right, and Buffy was stronger and faster than normal people, as well as healing quickly, and having these strange dreams that the siblings had taken to calling her "Slayer Dreams". However, something strange had happened. The night Buffy had encountered her first vampires, Faith and Bill had shown up at the cemetery, and clearly also had Slayer powers.

Merrick had been puzzled at first, but finally worked it out. Both Buffy and Faith had been born as Potential Vampire Slayers. According to him, no Slayer before had ever been part of a set of twins, or triplets, so, when the previous Slayer, India Cohen, had died, somehow, BOTH had been activated, and while Buffy was, in fact, a full powered Slayer, Faith had somehow had wound up sharing her powers with Bill. Bill and Faith both took more after their father, Hank, while Buffy looked more like their mother, Joyce, so, Merrick had theorized that Bill and Faith had a closer genetic link than either had with Buffy, causing the split.

Some testing had shown, Bill was as strong as Buffy, though not as fast, while Faith was as fast, but not as strong. Plus, it seemed Slayers got some sort of boost to their fighting abilities. While Buffy was naturally good at both hand to hand and fighting with weapons, Bill was better at hand to hand, while Faith was better with weapons

Upon learning of Buffy's siblings, Merrick had gotten in touch with his superiors, who assured him that Marley was not a Potential like her sisters had been.

There was a knock at their door. "Hey, you guys up?" came Bill's voice.

"We're up, Bill," called Marley, smiling. Even though he often picked on and teased them, all three girls loved their brother a lot. Marley went over and opened the door.

"Hey Squirt," said Bill,already dressed for school. He always called her that, even though Marley was already the tallest of his sisters. Though he loved all three of his sisters, he doted on Marley and the two were especially close, sharing a love of music. Both sang really well, Marley wrote songs and Bill p-ayed several instruments. "Mom says to hurry it up. She says we don't want to be late for our first day at our new school." He rolled his eyes then looked over at Buffy. "You ok?"

"Just the dreams I sometimes have," Buffy answered a bit shakily.

Bill nodded sympathetically. Buffy was the only one of the three of them to get the Slayer dreams. That had led Merrick to believe Buffy was actually the Chosen One.

"I guess we better hurry," Buffy continued. "Like Mom said, we CERTAINLY don't wanna be late." She was the most nervous of the four of them about their new school. Faith put on a good front, but was clearly nervous as well. Bill wasn't really all that nervous, and Marley was actually excited. She was the only one of them who actually liked school.

Faith, who had gotten up to brush her long brunette hair, walked over and sat down next to Buffy, putting her arm around her. "Oh, come on, B," she said. "It'll be just fine. You know what Mom says "a new school and a new start.""

"Yeah, Buff," said Bill, sitting down on Buffy's other side and also putting an arm around her. "We're putting all that shit from Hemry behind us, and leaving the Slayer stuff behind too."

"That's right," added Marley. "You guys took care of that Lotho's creep, so it should be smooth sailing from now on."

Buffy nodded. "You're right," she said with false cheerfulness. She hugged her sisters and her brother, and they all got up. Bill left the room and went thundering down the stairs like a herd of elephants so the girls could have their privacy to get dressed.

"William Gordon Summers!" came their mother's voice from downstairs. "How many times do I have to yell at you for stomping down the stairs like that?"

"At least one more?" said Bill and both of his sisters could almost see him giving Joyce what he thought was a charming , Faith and Marley exchanged a grin and an eyeroll at their brothers antics and finished getting ready.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"OK," SAID Joyce After pulling her jeep in front of Sunnydale High. "Now you kids have a good day. I know you'll all make friends right away."

Marley smiled as they all got out of the car, then leaned in the drivers side window and kissed her on the was the only one of the three girls who never got uncomfortable with PDA's with their parents. "Thanks Mom," she said. "Love you."

"Love you guys," said Joyce, smiling. "Oh, and, please, TRY not to get kicked out."

Bill, Faith and Buffy exchanged an eyeroll. "We'll try," they promised as Joyce pulled away. Bill turned and smiled at a tall, really pretty girl with long blonde hair as she walked by, carrying a bag and a drink carrier. She smiled back.

Marley sighed as they took in their new surroundings. "It'd be nice if she wouldn't keep reminding you guys of all that," she said sympathetically.

As a result of their final confrontation with Lotho's and his minions, the gym had burned to the ground, and the blame had gone on Buffy, Faith, and Bill, leading to the Summers Triplets being expelled. As Marley had no powers of her own, her siblings had made her stay at home, so, she had avoided being expelled along with them.

"A lot of things would be nice," said Faith, thinking of Oliver Pike, whom she had just started dating when all this went down. Faith and Pike had been friends before all this went down, both hanging with the same crowd, then they'd sort of fallen for each other when Pike found out about vampires, etc.

Buffy squeezed Faith's shoulder in sympathy. Bill immediately looked at his sisters. He was only two minutes older than Faith who was five minutes older than Buffy, but, Bill had always regarded himself as their "big brother", partly because he ws a foot taller than Buffy, looking out for and doing his best to protect them. He knew they were both nervous about starting in at a new school, so he put on his happy face. "C' mon you three,"he said. "Let's go meet with the principal then we can take over this school!" All three girls laughed, as Bill put one arm around Buffy's shoulders, the other around Faith's, and Faith put an arm around Marley's, and the four started inside the school. They paused as they noticed a dark haired boy their own age heading towards them, on a skateboard, looking like he had little, if any, control over the thing.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Santana sat at a picnic table with Quinn as they awaited Brittany's arrival. She looked up and saw her coming. She rolled her eyes as Britt stopped to flirt with a tall new boy with jet black hair, who was standing there with three girls, one blonde and two brunette' couldn't see their faces from this angle, but could tell that they were new, and imagined the guy must be good looking, based on the smile Britt gave him. Britt was an INCREDIBLE flirt. She nudged Quinn and pointed that Britt was on her way. Quinn looked up and smiled.

Santana marveleld a bit at how much things had changed, yet stayed the same over the 11 years the girls had known each other. They had been inseparable ever since their first day of kindergarten, and were still inseparable today. They had formed a friendship with another girl, Cordelia Chase, on the same day but, their friendship with her had not remained as strong as it had once been. All four girls had joined the more popular crowd, and were all planning on trying out for the cheerleading team in a few weeks, but, Cordelia had become somewhat mean spirited, verbally sniping at kids less fortunate than herself, especially Willow Rosenberg, Xander Harris, and Jesse McNalley, who all four had been friends with when they were younger. Santana, Quinn, and Britt had somehow managed to stay friends with Both Cordelia and the others, but it was hard sometimes. At least for Santana and Quinn. Brittany had no problem with it. Britt was the very sweetest person Santana had ever known. A lot of people thought Britt was stupid, and an airhead, but Santana knew better. She'd always suspected that Britt was in actuality smarter than any of them.

Santana happened to look back over the way Britt was coming from. She saw Xander Harris riding a skateboard through the busy throng of students. Well, TRYING to ride it. He seemed to have little control over the thing. Santana chuckled as Xander saw the two new girls, craning his head back to look at one or both of them. Doing so completely cost him control of the skateboard and he took a header causing a bit of a commotion. Willow was coming over to him just as Britt arrived and plopped a Starbucks cup in front of each of them.

"Hola, Chica's," she said as he dug into her bag. She placed a donut on a napkin for each of them, but Santana ignored hers and said a perfunctory "Hi". Her eyes had gone past Xander and Willow, to see the new kids had turned to see Xanders dive, and were now looking their way. The boy was tall, and good looking, with jet black hair and a fairly full mustache for a boy their age. One of the brunettes had long, chocolate brown hair, and was dressed really casually, in jeans, a tee shirt, and a denim jacket. The other brunette was a little taller and her hair a lighter brown, and was dressed also casually but in a more girly way, wearing a pink blouse and a blue skirt The other girl was shorter, with blonde hair and dressed much more fashionable than the first two, wearing a lavender mini dress.. She and Santana met each others eyes for a moment.

Santana's stomach fluttered and she started breathing faster. Her heart was beating in her ears. The girl was beautiful, petite with dark blonde hair. The girl blushed at Santana's scrutiny, but had a strange look on her face, which Santana would see matched her own, if she had access to a mirror.

Santana was confused. While she was not promiscuous, she had dated a lot and was no longer a virgin, though she had never been REALLY interested in any of the guys she'd dated. But, as she looked at this new girl she was clearly feeling more attraction right now than she'd ever felt in her life. Something about this girl struck a chord in Santana, and she found herself wanting to...get to know her.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Hi, Britt," said Quinn as she came up. "Thank you." She reached for her coffee and donut, but then saw Santana staring. She followed her gaze and saw the new girl, clearly staring back at her. Quinn chuckled. She and Britt knew Santana better than anybody, and they had figured out that she was gay. but it was amusing how that didn't seem to have occurred to Santana herself.

"Something wrong, Tana?" asked Quinn with a smirk. Brittany also saw the look on Santana's face and exchanged grins with Quinn.

"Who's the new girl?" she asked, breathlessly. "She's just so...new."

Quinn and Britt burst out laughing. "I think somebody is in looooooooove," Britt teased.

Santana growled at her. "Knock it off, Blondie," she said.

"Ohhh, you're SO badass!" quipped Brittany.

Quinn laughed at their antics, then noticed the headline of the newspaper. The headline read "Local Teen Missing:" and there was a picture of their classmate Josh Randall. "Oh my God," she exclaimed.

"What's the what?" asked Santana, as she read the headline herself. " Josh! It says he's been missing since Friday! We saw him at the Bronze Friday."

"Yeah, I wanted to show that to you," said Brittany. They all knew Josh, not a close friend, but somebody to say hello to in the halls.

Quinn knew Josh best of the three of them, they'd been partnered for an English project last term. "God, do you think..."

Santana looked grim. "It's Sunnydale, Quinn," she said. "Shit like that HAPPENS here."

Quinn nodded. Sunnydale was a strange town. Lots of weird stuff, including deaths and disappearances going on. Most of the adults ignored it, most of the kids too. For some reason, the three of them had picked up on it.

"Yeah, but the three of us are safe, as long as we stick together."

Santana and Brittany both nodded. Somehow, they all knew, that the three of them working together could accomplish just about anything.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Xander Harris was starting to think maybe riding his skateboard to school had been a bad idea. He did fine on the thing so long as nobody else was around, but, the moment he had to, well, steer the thing he started having problems.

"Excuse me," he shouted to the crowd, making people move aside. "Coming through...coming through... look out please...not sure how to stop...don't wanna hurt anybody." He noticed four new kids as he careened by them. Three of them were girls, two brunettes, one blonde all gorgeous Xander craned his head to keep looking at them, ok, mostly the taller brunette, and lost any pretense of control over the skateboard. He ran right into a stair rail, doing a rather impressive flip over the rail and landing on his back. he lay there for a moment, then got to his feet. He noticed all four of them looking at him with amusement.

"You SUCK Harris!," yelled Larry Blaisedell from nearby.

"Thanks for reminding me, Larry," he called as the four new kids walked inside. "I might have forgotten."

"Are you ok?" he heard a familiar voice ask from next to him. He turned to see his best friend, Willow Rosenberg standing there. Willow was a cute but awkward girl with long red hair and a bit of a whipped puppy look about her. She was really smart, with a somewhat overbearing mother who, unfortunately for Willow, still picked out her clothes.

"Willow!" he exclaimed happily. "You're SO the person I wanted to see!"

"Really?" asked Willow, for some reason beaming at him.

"Yeah," said Xander. "Remember our homework? Well, I kinda had a problem with the math."

Willow's smile got a bit less bright as she asked him," Which part?"

Xander looked embarrassed. "The math," he answered. He looked at her plaintively. "Can you help me tonight? Please? Be my study buddy?"

Willow shook her head at him. "What's in it for me?" she asked him, clearly amused.

"A shiny nickel!" Xander singsonged, making it sound like equivalent to the city of El Dorado or King Solomomn's Mines.

Willow laughed. "Ok. I'll help you."she said. "Do you have "Theories In Trig"? You should check it out."

Xander looked lost. "Check it out?" he asked.

Willow rolled her eyes. "From the library," she told him. "Where the books live."

"Right," said Xander. "I'm there! See? I WANT to change."

Willow just shook her head as they entered the building and their friend Jesse came up to them. Jesse was an awkward kid, more so than Xander was. "Hey," he said by way of greeting.

"Jesse!" said Xander. "What's what?"

Jesse shrugged. "Three new girls" he answered.

"That's right!" said Xander. "I saw them. Total hotties."

"I heard we had four new kids transferring here," added Willow, who usually knew these things. "All siblings. Three are triplets, the fourth is younger.

"So," said Xander to Jesse. "Tell."

"Tell what?" asked Jesse, confused.

"The sitch," answered Xander. "What do you know about them?"

Jesse shrugged again. "Three new girls," he repeated, leaving it at that.

Xander shook his head exasperatedly. "Well, you're certainly a font of nothing!" he said as the three went to their classes.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N: Changed the prophecy a bit, as well as the bit explaining the split of Faith's powers with Bill. I realize that Eliza Dushku and Dean Butler, who played Hank, look nothing alike, so, for the purposes of this story, consider Hank played by an actor with more of a resemblance to Eliza. I figure, as Hank appeared in all of three episodes, this is not too drastic of a change. If you remember from before, both Buffy and Faith had given part of their powers to Bill. I felt a fully powered Slayer was needed, so, changed it so that Faith actually split her powers with Bill. Hope you like the changes. Please review. If you've already reviewed this chapter, please either shoot me an IM or review this chapter that announces the revision.


	3. Chapter 2 Welcome To The HellmouthPt2

**Chapter Two Welcome To The Hellmouth Pt 2**

A short time later, the siblings found themselves sitting across from Principal Flutie. Buffy could already see that the middle aged man was caught somewhere between the old school of strict discipline and the new school of sensitivity. She hoped sensitivity won out when it came to their past.

"Buffy, William and Faith, Summers, Sophomores," he said, looking at their transcript's then at them. "Fraternal triplets, Buffy is the oldest, Faith the youngest. And Marley Summers, Freshman. All four Late of Hemry High in Los Angeles."He looked at Buffy, Faith and Bill. "You three have an interesting career, . Very colorful."He looked to Marley. "And it says here you were an honors student. Very good." He smiled and did the very last thing Buffy expected him to do.

He tore their transcripts each into four pieces.

"Welcome to Sunnydale, kids," he said warmly. "You get a clean slate here. What's past is past. We're not interested in what this piece of paper says. Even if it says..." Buffy was just starting to hold out some hope as he looked down and read the paper. "...WHOA!. Ahem, er. We nurture the whole student here. The INNER student." As he spoke, he took the pieces of the transcript's and lay them carefully on his desk, fitting them together. "Other schools might look at the incredible decline in grade point average..." he looked at Buffy. "...HERE we look at the young WOMAN with the incredible decline in her grade point average." He reached for his tape dispenser as he looked again at the transcripts. "Other schools might look at the reports of gang fights..." he looked at Faith and Bill.

The siblings exchanged a look. Without speaking, they sort of agreed that, as the only one not expelled from Hemry, and also generally having the best rapport with adults, Marley should do the talking.

"Uh, er, Mr. Flutie..." she began nervously.

Flutie raised a hand. "The students here are free to call Bob," he told her.

"Ok...Bob," said Marley.

"But they don't," Flutie informed her in a tone that said they were free to call him that in name only. "Ever." He started applying tape to the transcript's pieces.

Bill sighed and decided to try. "Mr. Flutie," he said. "I know our transcripts are a little...colorful..."

"Hey," said Flutie. "we're not caring about that."He paused and got a thoughtful look. "Do you think "colorful" is the word? Not "dismal". Because, offhand, I'd go with dismal."

" Hey! It wasn't THAT bad!" Faith burst out. Buffy put a hand on her arm. Bill looked at her and shook his head. Faith's temper was legendary in the Summers house.

Flutie pointed to their transcripts. "You burned down the school gym!" he said, indicating Buffy, Faith, and Bill.

Buffy squirmed "We did," she admitted. " We really did. But you gotta see the whole picture. That gym was full of vam..."

"Asbestos!" Marley blurted out, then winced as all three of her siblings rolled their eyes. Faith's look in particular said "NICE save!"

Flutie went back into Mr. Sensitive mode. "Kids," he said. "don't worry. Any other school they might say "watch your step" or "we'll be watching you" or even "get within 100 yards of the gym with a book of matches and you'll grow up in juvie hall" but that's just not the way here. Here, we want to service all of your needs and help you to respect our needs. And, if any of your needs and our needs don't mesh..." He smiled blandly and slipped the freshly taped transcript back into their file.

The four siblings exchanged another look.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"God, I can't even hate him!" Faith complained as they walked into the hallway outside the main office. 'I can't help feeling like he's honestly trying to be nice!"

"Tell me about it," said Marley. "Though, the look on his face when he pointed out the burning of the gym WAS kinda funny."

Buffy shook her head. "You're weird, Marl," she said playfully. She looked at her schedule. "Ok, I have history first period."

Faith looked at hers and groaned. "I got math," she said.

"Me too," said Marley. She looked at Faith's schedule. "it's the same math class. You can sit by me." Faith grinned at her in appreciation. Marley was a whiz at math and was taking Sophomore level classes.

"Looks like we're going in three directions this hour," said Bill. "I have english." He looked at her sisters schedules. "Actually, looks like we don't have another class together until after lunch." Buffy nodded looking a little sad about that.

"Hey," said Faith, trying to bolster her confidence. "Look at it this way. if we split up, we can do more damage!" Marley laughed, knowing immediately what Faith was doing, and loving her for it. The warning bell rang.

"Ok" said Bill."I'll catch you guys at lunch."

"You bet," said Buffy, faking a smile. "Game faces!"

"Bye guys," said Marley as Bill and Buffy walked off. She and Faith exchanged a look, then sighed a little then turned around...

and immediately collided with another student. The big jerk didn't even slow down as both girls books spilled out of their bag.

"No, it's ok, We got it," Faith called after him, shaking her head as they knelt down to pick them up.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Xander looked down the hall and saw two of the new girls ,including the taller brunette he'd noticed this morning, separate from their brother and sister and immediately collide with Larry. Naturally, the big mook didn't even stop and help them. Xander rushed in and knelt down next to the taller girl , grabbing a couple of her books and handing them to her. She looked at him and smiled her thanks.

"Can I have you?" he asked, then winced. "Dyeh, can I HELP you?"

"Oh, thanks,"said the girl looking a bit flustered. He started picking up items and handing them to her.

"No no, that's ok," said the other girl with a smirk. "I got mine!"

"Ok, cool," said Xander, totally missing the girls sarcasm. "I don't know you, do I?"

The girl he was helping gave him a smile. "We're new," she answered. "I'm Marley and this is my sister, Faith."

"Xander," he answered. "Is me. Hi."

"Thanks,"said Marley, smiling again as they all stood. Xander decided he really liked her smile.

"Maybe I'll see you around," said Xander. "At school. Because...we all ...go there." He mentally kicked himself.

"Great," said Marley as he handed her the last of her books. "Nice to meet you." She stuffed the books into her bag and left for her class.

"Bye," said Faith, smirking at him. Xander noticed her whisper something to Marley, which caused the girl to elbow her sister in the side.

Xander was totally disgusted with himself. "Can I have you?" he mocked himself. "We all go to school? Yeah, great. At best, I'm pathetic, at worst, I'm a creep!" He noticed something Faith had missed and bent to pick it up. "Oh, hey, you forgot..." he called out, then stopped as he looked at what he was holding. "your STAKE?" He stared at the stake for a moment, totally confused, as the next bell rang, signaling he was indeed late for class.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A short time later, Buffy sat in her first hour class, earnestly taking notes, trying to keep up.

"It's estimated nearly four million people died in that one four year period," said the teacher. "But the really of the Black Plague is that it started in Europe as what? As an early form of germ warfare. The plague was first found in Asia, and a Kipchak army actually catapaulted plague -infested corpses into a Genoese trading post. Ingenious. If you look at the map on page 63 you can trace the spread of the disease..."

Buffy sighed as the other kids started opening their books, and she was forced to look down to see her notebook. No textbook for Buffy. She looked around, helplessly. Fortunately a very pretty dark haired girl next to her took pity on her.

"Here,"she said, holding her book where they could both see it.

"Thanks said Buffy.

"And this popular plague led to what social changes?" asked the teacher.

The class ended and the girl came up to Buffy. "Hi,"she said in a totally self assured way. "I'm Cordelia."

Buffy smiled at her. "I'm Buffy," she said.

"If you're looking for a text book, there's probably a few in the library," said Cordelia helpfully.

"Oh, thanks," said Buffy. "And where would that be?"

"C'mon," said Cordelia brightly. "I'll show you."

Cordelia kept a running dialogue going as the two made their way to the library. "So you transferred her from Hemry in LA?" she asked Buffy.

"Yeah," answered Buffy.

"Oh, I would kill to live in La," Cordelia gushed. "To be that close to that many shoes! Why did you move here?"

"Because my Mom moved here," answered Buffy. "I mean, my brother, my sisters and I came with her, but, it was her choice."

"Well," said Cordelia. "If you hang with me and mine, you'll be accepted in no time. Of course, I do have to test your coolness factor. You're from LA so we can skip the written, but, let's see...vamp nail polish?"

"Over?" Buffy guessed, still trying to figure out if Cordelia was joking about the written or not.

"SO over," said Cordelia. "James Spader?"

Buffy giggled. "He NEEDS to call me!"

"Frappacinos?"

"Trendy but tasty."

"John Tesh?"

"The Devil."

"Well, that one was pretty much a gimmee,"said Cordelia. "but you passed."

"Oh, GOOD," exclaimed Buffy, as if she were releived. The two of them walked up to a drinking fountain, which was being used by a red haired girl who was wearing an outfit, well, frankly, Buffy wouldn't be caught dead in.

"Willow, nice dress!" said Cordelia. "It's good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears!"

Buffy winced both at Cordelia's sudden viciousness and at the hurt look on Willow's face.

"Well, my mom picked it out," said Willow, almost apologizing."

"Well, it's no WONDER you're such a guy magnet!" said Cordelia witheringly. She indicated the fountain. "You done?"

"Oh,"said Willow, looking at the floor and moving aside.

"You wanna fit in around here," said Cordelia to Buffy, moving up to the fountain. " the first rule is "know your losers". Once you can identify them all by sight, they're a lot easier to avoid." She bent down to get a drink as Buffy unhappily watched Willow leave.

"-and if you're not too busy catching up," said Cordelia a few minutes later as they approached the library. "you should coem out to The Bronze tonight."

"The who?" asked Buffy, confused.

"The Bronze," answered Cordelia. It's the only club worth going to around here. They let anybody in, but it's still the scene. It's kind of in the bad part of town."

"Where's that?" asked Buffy curiously.

Cordelia laughed. "About a half a block from the good part of town. We don't have a lot of town."

Buffy chuckled a little. "Well, I'll try. Thanks."

"Good," said Cordelia. "I'll see you at gym and you can tell me all there is to know about yourself."

Buffy shook her head as Cordelia left and muttered. "Won't that be fun?" She walked through the library doors.

The library was huge, filled with dark wood and streaming sunlight. it was also empty. Not a single student. She wandered further in and called out "Hello? Is anybody here?"

A hand reached out from behind her, touching her shoulder and startling her. She spun around to see a middle aged man with a certain quiet intensity. He was good looking in a "your Dad's cute for an old guy" kind of way.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Oh, er, I was looking for some books,"Buffy answered. "I'm new."

"Miss Summers?" he asked. Buffy noticed he had a British accent. he gave her a small smile. "Or, rather, one of them?"

"Good call," said Buffy feeling a bit nervous. "I'm Buffy. I guess we're the only new kids."

"I'm Mr. Giles," he said. "The librarian."

"Great," said Buffy. "Do you have..."

"I know what you're after," interrupted Giles. He led her to the check out counter and pulled out a book sliding it over to Buffy. It was a huge, leather bound tome with a single word set in gild across the cover.

Vampyr.

Buffy recoiled and stepped away from the desk, eyeing Giles suspiciously. "That's NOT what I'm looking for," she said.

"Are you sure?" asked Giles looking confused.

"I'm way sure," said Buffy, backing further away and exiting the library as he turned his back and put the book away.

Can't they just leave me alone? she thought to herself.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Quinn? Could you come up here please?" asked Dr. Gregory, the biology teacher. Quinn, Santana and Brittany all shared biology as their second hour class, and Quinn had been sitting there amusedly watching Santana and Britt playfully bicker. They all teased each other a lot, but Santana and Britt had raised it to an artform.

It probably made sense. Quinn knew a little something about her two best friends that nobody else did. The girls were best friends with benefits, benefits of he sexual kind. Though Brittany was bisexual, Santana insisted she only had girl sex with Brittany, though Quinn and Britt had talked about it and suspected that Santana was actually gay. Which made her obvious attraction to the new girl completely unsurprising to them.

Quinn looked up to see the boy who had been standing with that girl and the two others this morning standing by Dr. Gregory's desk. Seeing him more closely, Quinn saw that he really WAS good looking. Quinn wasn't normally a fan of longer hair on guys, but, on him it looked GOOD.

"Yes Dr. Gregory?" asked Quinn, smiling at the new boy, who gave her a kind of cocky grin which Quinn immediately found both infuriating and endearing.

"Quinn, this is Bill Summers, a transfer from LA.," explained Dr. Gregory. "Bill, this is Quinn Fabray. She's one of my better students, and well qualified to help you catch up if you need it. I'm going to lab partner you with Quinn and her two friends." He gave Quinn a smile. "IF you think the four of you can behave yourselves."

Bill shook hands with Quinn, chuckling at Dr. Gregory's joke. "Nice to meet you, Quinn," he said.

"You too," said Quinn. She looked at Dr. Gregory and playfully rolled her eyes. "You know as well as I do, Santana and Britt are the ones you have to worry about, and I think Bill and I can keep them in line.": Bill and Dr Gregory both laughed as Quinn led Bill to their table.

"Guys, this is Bill Summers," she said. "He's going to be our new lab partner. Bill, these are my best friends in the world, Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce"

"Hi, Bill," said Santana with a grin. "Welcome to Sunnydale High. It's not much to look at, but we like to call it Hell."

Bill chuckeld a little. "Nice to meet you guys," he said. He looked at Brittany. "Didn't I see you this morning?" he asked.

Britt nodded. "Yeah, you were standing with that girl Santana likes, and the other two," she said, innocently.

BRITT!" hissed Santana, smacking her arm, as Quinn and Bill chuckled.

"What?" asked Brittany pouting and rubbing her arm. "It's TRUE. And she was staring at you too!"

Quinn shook her head as Bill laughed at their antics. "Ignore them, Bill," she said. "I always do. We met when we were five and I haven't been able to get rid of them since."

"You know you love us,"said Santana and Brittany simultaneously, making all four of them laugh.

"That was my sister, Buffy," said Bill. And Brittany is right, she did notice Santana too. She, Faith, the shorter brunette, and I are triplets. Marley is our younger sister."

"That is so cool," said Brittany. "How do you tell each other apart?"

Bill gave her a funny look, unable to tell if she was joking or not. "Magic," he quipped, then raised an eyebrow as Brittany nodded sagely.

"So, where are you from?" asked Santana, blushing a little at Bill's admission that Buffy had noticed her too, so, trying to change the subject.

LA," said Buffy. "Our folks split up recently and Mom decided we needed a change of scenery. She's opening an art gallery here in town."

"Wow, major cool," said Santana as Quinn nodded her head. "Maybe you can give us a tour sometime."

Bill smiled. "Sure,"he said.

"Or, maybe Buffy could give San a private tour?" said Brittany ,waggling her eyebrows. She yelped as Santana smacked her arm again. "Bully!" she muttered

Quinn and Bill exchanged a smirk. "it's like dealing with two six year olds, sometimes," Quinn joked.

Dr. Gregory walked over. "Excuse me, you four," he said, trying to look cross but he was clearly amused. "But some of us would like to start class now. Do you mind?"

All three girls shook their heads but Bill answered "Aw, do ya HAFTA?" The girls all rolled their eyes in unison, then giggled as they realized what they had done.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The class passed swiftly, and Bill found he really liked Quinn, Santana and Brittany. It was pretty clear they had a strong tight group there and all three seemed to be letting him in. He was also positive that Buffy, Faith and Marley would get along with them well. And he also had a feeling about Buffy and Santana. He and Faith had talked about it and Faith in particular was pretty sure that Buffy was gay, but not ready to face that yet. It sort of made sense. Faith was bi and, at her own admission, had "awesome gaydar".

Santana and Brittany went off to their next class, which they had together, and after looking at his schedule, Quinn had announced that the two of them shared their next class, so, they were walking there together. Bill looked over at Quinn. With her hazel eyes, and long blonde hair, and the face of an angel Bill was finding himself really attracted to this girl.

"So, if you're not doing anything tonight, Santana, Britt and I are going to a club called The Bronze," Quinn was saying. "it's really the only club in town that allows minors. They usually have live bands. Tonight, a band called Dingo's Ate My Baby is playing and they, well, they don't suck. You and your sisters should definitely come"

Bill laughed. "That sounds cool," he said. "I'll talk to the girls but, I think we probably will. Especially if I tell Buffy that Santana will be there."

Quinn laughed. "Those two were something else, even from across the quad."

"Yeah," said Bill. "Imagine what will happen when they actually MEET!"

The two laughed and Quinn led Bill into their next class. Nether realized it but, the two were having their own connection.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Faith walked into the girls locker room after gym class, feeling happy that lunch was next. Gym class always made her hungry. As she opened her new gym locker, she heard two girls on the next locker bank over, obviously gossiping about the four new kids.

"Bill is really cute,"said one girl. "But they all seem kinda weird. And who names their kid "Buffy" anyway?"

"Hey, Aphrodesia, Aura," said another girl, making Faith smirk. Who were these two to talk about names?

"Well," said the second girl, who Faith decided to identify as Aura. "I heard they got kicked out of their old school and that's why their Mom had to get a new job and move here." Faith winced at how quick the gossip vine was.

"Neg!" said Aphrodesia.

"Pos!" said Aura. " They were starting fights."

"Negly!" said Aphrodesia.

"Well, I heard it from Blue," said Aura. "And she SAW the transcripts..." Faith heard the sound of a locker opening, and then Aura was cut off by several girls screams, including Aura's. Faith went into Slayer mode by rote and ran around to the other side of the locker bank.

Lying there on the floor in front of Aura's locker, was the dead body of a boy, his eyes open horribly wide. Faith knelt down and examined the body. She immediately noticed two little holes in his neck, and that the body had apparently been drained of blood.

"Great," she muttered under her breath.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Buffy and Marley walked outside to the quad at lunchtime together. They had each filled each other in on their day so far, Buffy telling Marley about her encounter with the librarian, as well as her interactions with Cordelia and Willow. Just as she finished telling her about this, they looked over to see Willow sitting alone by the fountain in the quad. They exchanged a look, nodded, and walked over and put on their friendliest smiles. "Hi,"Buffy said brightly. "You're Willow, right?"

Willow looked up at her nervously. "Why?" she asked. "I mean, hi. Did you want me to move?"

Buffy shook her head, feeling sad about the damage kids like Cordelia had done to this poor girl. "Why don't we start with "Hi, I'm Buffy and this is my sister Marley,""she said sitting down next to her, Marley sitting on the other side. "And segue directly into me asking you a favor. It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve you hanging out with me for awhile."

Willow, looked up at her, confused. "But," she said. "Aren't you hanging with Cordelia?"

"She can't do both?" Marley asked Willow.

Willow sighed and shook her head. "Not legally," she said, ruefully.

"Look," said Buffy. "I really want to get by here, new school and all. Cordelia's been really nice...to ME anyway, but I have have this burning desire to...not flunk all my classes and I hear you're the person to talk to about that."

"Yeah," said Marley, catching on. "I try to help her, but, I AM a freshman. And Bill and Faith, our brother and sister are... well, I AM a freshman." Buffy chuckled at that. Neither Bill nor Faith were particularly studious, though Faith was a LOT smarter than she let on.

Willow brightened considerably. "Oh," she said. "I can DEFINITELY help you there. If you have sixth period free we could meet at the library."

"Or not," said Buffy, a little too quickly. "Or we could meet someplace quieter...noisier. That place just kinda gives me a wiggins."

"Me too," said Santana, as she, Quinn, and Brittany walked up with Bill, who made quick introductions then plopped down next to Marley with a mountain of food on his lunch tray. Santana sat down next to Buffy, the two girls exchanging a shy smile, though they didn't say much more than "hello". Buffy's eyes widened a bit to see that Santana had, while not as much food as Bill, more food than a teenage girl with her figure would be expected to have. Buffy's eyes lingered on the aforementioned figure for a moment.

"It has that effect on most kids," acknowledged Quinn. Brittany nodded.

"I love it though," said Willow brightly. "It's a great collection, and the new librarian is really cool. "

"He's new?" asked Buffy, snapping out of her appraisal of Santana and seeming disturbed.

"Yeah," said Wilow. "He just started. I've spoken with him. He used to be a curator of some British Museum. Or maybe it was THE British Museum. I'm not sure. Anyway, he knows EVERYTHING and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies and...am I the singles dullest person alive?"

"Not at all," said Buffy, smiling reassuringly.

"We love your enthusiasm, Will," added Santana, exchanging a smile with Buffy. Apparently, the girls knew each other.

Two boys Buffy didn't know walked up, though Marley looked at the dark haired one in recognition. "Hey," he said. "You guys busy? Are we interrupting? We'll interrupt."

"Hey guys," said Santana, Quinn and Brittany together.

"Buffy,Marley, Bill, this is Xander and Jesse," offered Willow.

"Oh, Marley and me go way back," said Xander, obviously nervous. "Old friends, very close. Then, there was that period of estrangement, where I think we were both growing as people, but here we are and it's like old times. I'm very touched."

"In the head," Santana muttered softly enough that only Buffy and Brittany, who was sitting on her other side, heard her.

Jesse just looked at his bud. "is it me," he asked. "or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?"

Xander just looked at the ground and said," It's NOT you."

Buffy chuckled. "Well, it's nice meeting you guys," she said.

"We THINK," added Marley.

"The theory is that you'll get used to them,"said Santana. "I'm still trying to."

"Well, we just wanted to make you feel at home," said Jesse as Xander shot Santana a playful dirty look. Then he thought about it. "Unless you have a scary home."

"And to return something to your sister," said Xander, producing the stake that Faith had dropped earlier. "The only thing I can think is that she's building a really little fence."

Buffy exchanged a look with Bill and Marley and took the stake. "Oh no," she said. "This is for self defense. Everyone has them in LA. Pepper spray is just so passe." Bill rolled his eyes and gave her a "Seriously?" look at the lame excuse. Buffy just shrugged.

"So," Xander chimed in, targeting Buffy and Marley . "What do you like? What do you do for fun? What do you look for in a man? Let's hear it."

"Do you have any deep dark secrets we can publish?" added Jesse.

"Gee,"said Buffy, looking back and forth between them, and remembering Cordelia earlier telling her she wanted to hear "all about her". ":Everybody wants to know about us. How...keen."

"Well, not a lot happens in a one Starbucks town like Sunnydale," explained Xander. "So, you're big news."

"We're not," said Marley, getting uncomfortable. "We're really not."

"Lay off guys," said Quinn, getting a bit tired of watching the Two Stooges trying to be cool.

"Let's not overwhelm them on their first day,"said Santana. She placed a comforting hand on Buffy's back and gave the boys a Look. Buffy smiled gratefully at her.

Cordelia suddenly appeared behind Jesse, a look of disdain on her face. "Are these people bothering you?" she asked, indicating Jesse, Xander and Willow. "Hey Santana, Quinn, Brittany."

"Hey Cordy," they both said.

Cordelia then seemed to notice Bill. "Hello salty goodness," she muttered under her breath. Bill just smiled up at her.

Oh, NO!" said Buffy to her question. "NOT bugging us at ALL!"

"They weren't hanging out with us!" squeaked Willow, trying to cover for the new kids

"I was," said Bill, obviously not caring who knew it..

"Hey Cordelia," said Jesse, obviously smitten.

Cordelia didn't even look at him. "Oh, PLEASE," she said. She turned to Buffy. "I don't want to interrupt your downward mobility. I just thought I'd tell you, you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, because gym has been cancelled today due to the extreme dead guy in Aura's locker."

"What?" said Buffy, Bill, and Marley all together.

"What are you talking about?" asked Willow.

"Some guy...Josh Randall, was stuffed in Aura's locker," said Cordelia.

"Dead." said Buffy as Santana and Quinn and Brittany exchanged a look.

"WAY dead," said Cordelia.

"So, not just a LITTLE dead?" quipped Xander.

Cordelia gave him a look that could make paint peel. "Don't you have an elsewhere to be?" she asked.

Jesse looked to Cordelia. "You know," he said. "if you need a shoulder to cry on...or nibble on..." She just put out her hand in a "talk to the hand" motion.

"How did he die?" asked Bill, ignoring their stares.

"I...don't know?" said Cordelia, mystified at the question.

"Well, were there any marks?" asked Buffy.

"God, you two!" said Cordelia. "Morbid much? I didn't ask! Ask your sister. She was one of the girls that found him."

"What?" said Bill, Buffy and Marley rising.

"Where is she?" asked Marley.

"Fluties office," supplied Cordelia.

"We gotta book, " said Buffy as they gathered their things. "Nice meeting you guys." Marley echoed the sentiment. Bill shot Quinn a wave as they all took off.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Really, Mr. Flutie," said Faith in the outer office. "I don't need to go home." She was getting a little tired of being coddled. Of course, poor Flutie could not know that Faith had seen worse than the bloodless corpse.

"Are you sure?" asked Flutie. "I mean, that has to have been traumatic for you. "

Faith smiled softly as Bill, Buffy and Marley came running in. "Mr. Flutie, this is my first day. I'd HATE to have to go home early. Really, I'm fine."

"Oh, hello kids," said Flutie to her siblings , wincing at the concept that word was getting around. They each stepped up and hugged their sister.

"Faith is strong, Mr. Flutie," said Buffy. "And Bill, Marley and I promise to keep an eye on her and MAKE her call Mom if she needs to." Marley nodded.

"Ok," said Flutie. "You kids know your sister." he turned to Faith. "If you need to talk to someone...we have councilors for that." With that he smiled at them and walked off.

Once they were alone, Bill turned to Faith. "Was it...?"

Faith nodded. "Vampires," she whispered.

"What do we do?" asked Marley

"I know just who to talk to," said Buffy. She quickly filled Bill and Faith in in on her earlier meeting with the librarian as they all headed to the library.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Buffy, accompanied by Bill, Faith and Marley, stormed into the library, all attitude. "Ok," she said. "What's the sitch?"

Giles turned from the books he was shelving. " Miss Summers?" he asked. "I beg your pardon?" He looked at the other three. "Your siblings?"

"I'm Bill," said Bill. "This is Faith and Marley."

"You heard about the dead guy, right?" asked Marley.

"Yes." answered Giles

"Well, it's the weirdest thing," Faith continued. " He's got these two little holes in his neck, and all his blood has been , isn't that bizarre? Aren't you just going "ooooooh"?"

Giles gave them a look. He regarded Marley. "She knows?" he asked the others.

"Try sharing a bedroom with someone and keeping it a secret," snarked Faith.

Giles sighed and nodded. "I was afraid of this," he said.

"Well, WE weren't" snapped Bill. "It's our first day! I was worried I would be behind in all my classes."

"That I wouldn't make any friends," continued Marley.

"That I'd have last months hair," added Buffy making both of her sisters and her brother roll their eyes.

"That last bit was ALL Buffy," pointed out Faith, making Buffy stick her tongue out at her.

"We weren't expecting there to be vampires on campus."said Bill. He took a breath. "And we don't care."

Giles looked at back and forth between them thoughtfully. Perhaps feeling a bit dizzy from having this conversation with all four of them. "Then why are you here?" he asked.

The siblings nearly took a step back, totally thrown by the question. It was Faith who recovered first. "To...tell you we don't care," she finally answered.

"Which we don't," added Marley

"And have now told you," finished Buffy So...bye." They all turned, shaking their heads at the lamness of their exit.

"Will he rise?" Giles called out, stopping them in their tracks.

Faith sighed. "No, He's just dead," she said.

"Can you be sure?" asked Giles.

"She saw him," said Bill.

"To make you a vampire they have to suck your blood, then you have to suck their blood," said Buffy. "It's a whole big sucking thing. Mostly, they just kill you... WHY are we still talking to you?"

Giles pressed further. "You have no idea what's going on here, do you? Do you think it's just a coincidence?" He looked between the three of them. "All three of you being called? You coming here? That boy was just the beginning."

Buffy almost started crying. "WHY can't you just leave us alone?" she asked.

"Because you are the Slayer," answered Giles, then he corrected himself. "The SlayerS. Into every generation, a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with...

Bill, Buffy and Faith joined him for the next part "the strength and skill to stop the vampires..." Giles stopped so the siblings finished alone. "To stop the spread of their evil...blah blah. blah".

"Look, we've HEARD it all, ok?" said Faith irritatedly.

"I don't understand this attitude," said Giles, truly perplexed. He'd never heard of a Slayer giving her Watcher this much trouble before. Granted, there had never been three Slayers before either, and certainly never a boy. "You've accepted your destiny. You've slain vampires before."

"Yeah," said Bill. "And we have both been there and done that, and are now moving on!"

"What do you know about this town?" asked Giles.

"It's two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus?" guessed Buffy.

"The high school has a really annoying librarian?" added Faith.

"Dig a bit," said Giles going into full lecture mode. "into the history of this place. You'll find a string of odd occurrences. I believe this area is a sort of center of mystic energy. Things gravitate here that you might not find elsewhere."

"Like vampires," finished Buffy for him. Suddenly, she had a large book in her arms. Then, Bill had one too, then Faith. Giles kept piling on more books as he spoke, seeming to more or less ignore Marley.

"Like werewolves," he said. "Zombies. Succubi. Incubi. Everything you ever dreaded was under your bed but told yourself couldn't be by the light of day."

Buffy looked at the stack of books in her arms. "What did you do?" she asked. "Send away for the Time Life series?"

"Er, well, yes,"answered Giles, straightening his glasses.

"Did you get the free phone?" asked Marley.

"The, uh, the calendar."

"Cool." said Faith. Then, Buffy suddenly remembered their own agenda.

"First, we're VAMPIRE Slayers. Second, we're RETIRED. Hey, I have an idea! Why don't YOU kill them?"

Giles sighed...again. "I'm a WATCHER," he explained. "I don't have the skills."

"Oh come on," said Bill dropping the books on the counter, the other two followed suit. "Stake through the heart, a little direct sunlight, it's like falling off a log."

"You never forget how?" asked Buffy.

Bill rolled his eyes. "That's riding a bike, brain trust," he teased. Buffy gave him a death glare.

Giles looked at them exasperatedly. "The Slayer slays," he told her. "The Watcher..."

"Watches?" interrupted Faith throwing Giles off.

"Yes," he said, then caught himself. "NO! He-he trains her...prepares her."

"Prepares us for WHAT?" shouted Buffy, rounding on him. "For getting kicked out of school? For losing all our friends? For having to fight for our lives every single night and never being able to tell anyone because it might endanger them?"

Faith threw her two cents in. " For telling our parents and them having us fucking COMMITTED until we recant our story?"

" Go ahead, Giles," finished Bill. " Prepare us for that." They gave him defiant looks and stormed out of the library. Giles followed.

None of them noticed Xander in the book stacks, looking for that book Willow had told him to get.

"Wait, WHAT?" he asked, having heard everything.

Out in the hall, Giles tried to get the Summers' attention."It's getting worse!" he called out to them. The siblings exchanged a look, but turned around and walked back to him so they could converse quietly. With how desperate he seemed, Buffy could just see him yelling out stuff about vampires in a crowded school hallway.

"WHAT'S getting worse?" asked Buffy tiredly.

"The influx of the undead," answered Giles, earnestly, but quietly. "the supernatural occurrences. It's been building for years now...There is a REASON you three are here and a REASON why it's now!"

"Yeah," Faith scoffed. "Because NOW is when our Mom MOVED here!"

"Something is coming," said Giles imploringly. "Something is going to happen here soon."

"Gee,' snarked Buffy. "Can you vague that up for us?" Bill, Faith and Marley almost laughed.

"As far as I can tell," said Giles, getting exasperated with the girls. "the signs point to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon. Days. Possibly less."

The kids remained unconvinced and turned to leave. "Come on," said Bill. "This is Sunnydale! How bad an evil can there BE here?"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Across town, in a subterranian cave, a large vampire knelt by a pool of blood. Other vampires milled around, some carrying torches.

"The sleeper will wake," intoned the large vampire, in an almost praying tone. "The sleeper will wake." He said the words over and over. "The sleeper will wake. The sleeper will wake, and the world will bleed." He looked upwards. "Amen."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A/N: Not much changed here. Really just Flutie referring to the triplets birth order, and a little editing.


	4. Chapter 3 Welcome To The Hellmouth Pt 3

**Chapter 3 Welcome To The Hellmouth Pt 3**

 _ **London, England 1880**_

 _In an alley in London, a young man sat on a bale of hay, crying and ripping some papers in his hands to shreds._

 _William Pratt had just been humiliated by the woman he thought he loved. He'd tried to pour out his love for Cecily in poem, then, when confronted by her, he had admitted his love for her. And she told him he was BENEATH her! His life was over. No one understood him. He might as well be..._

 _"And I wonder," came a feminine voice from the end of the alley. "what catastrophe came crashing down from Heaven and brought this dashing stranger to tears?"_

 _William looked up to see a beautiful woman with thick black hair. She looked familiar. William had a brief memory of colliding with someone in the street as he'd left the party in tears. "Nothing," he grumbled. "I wish to be alone."_

 _"Oh, I see you," said the woman, moving closer. "A man surrounded by fools who cannot see his strength, his vision, his...glory. That...and burning baby fish, swimming around in your head. I see it all!"_

 _William backed away from the woman, her ranting making him nervous. He figured she was a cutpurse at best, a lunatic at worst. "That's quite close enough," he said, trying to sound authoritative. "I've heard tales of London pickpockets. You'll not be getting MY purse, I tell you."_

 _The woman smiled, beatifically at him, seeming to look at him, through him, and a million miles away all at the same time. "Don't need a purse," she said, waking a little closer. "Your wealth lies here." She pointed to his heart. "And here." She pointed to his head. "In the spirit and...imagination. You walk in worlds the others can't begin to imagine."_

 _William's eyes grew wide. Was it possible? Did somebody actually understand him?"Oh yes!" he said excitedly, then his natural caution returned. "I mean, no. I mean, I must go. Mother is expecting me."_

 _The woman got closer and began to open the collar to William's shirt, making him breathe more heavily. Nobody, not even Cecily, had ever affected him quite like this. "I see what you want,' she whispered huskily, seductively. "You want something glowing and glistening. Something...effulgent."_

 _"Effulgent," repeated William, as if in a trance._

 _"Do you want it?" she whispered._

 _William found he had never wanted anything more in his life. He touched her chest. "Oh yes!" he answered. "God, yes!"_

 _The woman smiled and her face changed. It became bumpy, ridged. Her eyes glowed and her teeth elongated. William looked at her, more confused than scared, as she opened his shirt further and moved in closer. He felt her fangs bury into his neck, as she began to drink of his blood. William cried out in pain, but, his cries turned into moans of ecstacy as he felt the life being drained from him._

 **Sunnydale, California. 1630 Revelo Drive, 1997**

Buffy sighed as she ransacked her closet, tossing clothes everywhere. After leaving Giles alone in the hallway at school, the Summers Siblings had decided to go to the Bronze tonight, as their new friends had suggested, and while both Faith and Marley were dressed and sitting on Faith's bed, watching her with amusement, Buffy was going through a living hell of trying to decide what to wear. If she was honest, especially with herself, she REALLY wanted to look good, knowing she was going to see Santana tonight. Buffy grabbed two outfits, and held on up in front of herself as she looked into her full length mirror. It was rather...revealing. "Hi," she said disdainfully. "I'm an enormous slut!"

"It's not THAT bad!" protested Faith, who generally wore more revealing clothes than her sisters.

Buffy tossed it aside and held the other one up. This one was somewhat frumpy. "Hi! Would you like to buy a copy of Watchtower?" She groaned and threw it onto the bed next to her other one.

"You used to be SO good at this." teased Marley. Buffy grabbed another outfit and tossed it at her.

They heard their mother, Joyce, walk into the room. Buffy turned, the other girls stood.

"Hi Girl's," Joyce said. She looked at the clothes. "Did your closet explode or are you going out?"

Buffy chuckled. "We're going out, Mom," she affirmed.

"We're going to a club. With the new friends we told you about," added Marley.

Joyce looked thoughtful. "Will there be boys there?"

Faith rolled her eyes. "No, Mom," she snarked." It's a nun club."She eeped as Joyce smacked her on her butt.

"Don't get cute," Joyce warned, partially seriously and partially playfully. Then, she looked at Faith very seriously. "Sweetie, are you sure you should be going out? After what happened today?"

Faith smiled at her. "I'll be fine, Mom," she assured her. "The school counselor said I should "get right back on the horse" and do normal stuff."

Joyce nodded. "Ok," she said. "I just worry. You all be careful." She looked to Faith and Buffy and indicated Marley. "And you two keep an eye on your sister."

"We will Mom," Buffy and Faith promised together.

"Don't worry, Mom," came Bill's voice from behind Joyce. He too was already dressed, looking really good in a black, button down shirt and dark blue jeans. "I'll be there to keep an eye on all three of them."

Joyce rolled her eyes. "And WHO'S going to keep an eye on YOU?" she asked teasingly.

They laughed then shared an awkward silence for a moment. Things had been weird between them since the trouble in LA.

Joyce looked around. "I think we can make it work here," she said. "I've got my positive energy flowing. I'm gonna get the gallery on it's feet. We may have already found a space."

"That's great, Mom," said Buffy, sincerely but a little distractedly.

"And that school is a very nurturing environment," Joyce continued, "which is what you need."

"Moooom," protested Faith.

Joyce held up a hand. "Oh, not TOO nurturing, I know," she said. "You kids ARE teenagers. I've read all about the dangers of over parenting." She paused a moment, then said to them , honestly,"It's hard. New town and all. It's hard for me too. I'm trying to make it work. I'm GOING to make it work."

Faith smiled softly. "We know, Mom," she said.

Joyce ran her fingers through Buffy's hair. "You're all good kids," she said sincerely. Lovingly. "You just fell in with the wrong crowd. But, that's all behind us now."

Faith smiled again. "it is," she said decisively.

"From now on, " said Buffy. "We're only hanging out with the living..." she paused as she realized what she'd just said.

"Th- the LIVELY...people." Bill improvised, then he winced inwardly. That was SO lame!

"Ok," said Joyce. "You have fun tonight."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Santana was putting the finishing touches on her makeup when she heard her mother, Maribel, behind her.

"Quinn and Brittany are here, Mija," said Maribel. Santana turned and saw a slightly disapproving look on her face. "You're going out tonight?"

Santana sighed. "Yes, Mami, we have plans to meet the new friends I told you about at the Bronze." Her heart fluttered a bit as she thought of Buffy Summers. The petite blonde really HAD captured Santana's interest, just as Britt had teased her about. She looked at her mother very seriously. "I'll be FINE, Mami," she assured her. "We've been working almost every day since my birthday and, while I haven't been able to shift at will, I've always managed to control the shift when I don't want it."

Maribel nodded as Santana remembered. Shortly before her sixteenth birthday, her parents had sat her down and had a talk with her. They had revealed to Santana that both of them were hereditary werewolves, and that, as their child, she was too. Santana had scoffed at first, until her Papi had changed in front of her. He didn't look like any werewolf she'd ever seen in the movies, neither the look from the old old movie The Wolfman, nor the bestial werewolves from such movies as The Howling or the Underworld series. He'd grown claws, and his teeth had grown into wolflike fangs. His ears had elongated and gotten pointed, his nose flattened slightly, and his eyes had glowed yellow.

After that, it had been hard for Santana to deny the truth. So, she had started working with her parents, learning how to control her enhanced senses, learning how she was stronger now, having come into her powers on her sixteenth birthday, so, learning how to not use TOO much strength, and learning how to control the change. As she had said, she had not yet managed to shift on purpose, but, she'd already gotten to where she could stop the shift when it was coming on involuntarily.

"I know, Mija," said Maribel, running her fingers through Santana's hair. "But, the change is triggered by high emotion, mostly anger, but lust can do it too. I just want you to be careful."

"I'm always careful, Mami,' said Santana, lovingly kissing her mothers cheek. "Plus, Britt and Quinn will be there." Marribel nodded. Santana was notorious for her temper. In fact, she sometimes quipped that she was always angry. However, being with Brittany and Quinn usually had a calming effect on her.

"Have fun tonight," Maribel told her as turned to leave. "Te quiero, Mi amor."

"Te quiero, Mami," Santana echoed. Maribel chuckled and shook her head as her spitfire of a daughter greeted her friends with a hearty "Ok, bitches, let's get this show on the road."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Buffy had FINALLy decided on something to wear, so the four of them had finally left. Buffy found herself lost in thought as they walked towards the club their new (hopeful) friends had told them about, The Bronze, her siblings chattering away. They left the suburban area and wound up on the deserted streets on the edge of town. As they walked along, Buffy's Slayer senses kicked in and she heard footsteps behind her.

"Guys," she said, but one look and she saw that the others had heard it too.

They stopped and turned. A ways back there was a figure, just standing there. Too far back to even be able to tell if it was a man or a woman. However one thing was clear, the figure was looking right at them.

"Come on," said Buffy, a trifle unnerved. They turned back around and resumed walking. They heard the figured start walking too. It was definitely following them , but at a discreet distance. They started moving faster and turned down an alley. Faith looked around then pointed above them. There was a pipe running across the narrow alley, some ten feet above them. Faith smiled, and pointed at the pipe, then at Buffy. Then she pointed down the alley and moved a finger back and forth between herself, Bill and Marley. Buffy grinned as she got the message.

Using her Slayer agility, and strength, Buff jumped up and grabbed the pipe, swinging up like an olympic gymnast, stopping in a sort of handstand on top of the pipe. Her siblings continued their walk down the alley. The figure followed them, then stopped and looked around, right underneath Buffy.

Buffy swung down, intending to wrap her legs around the figures neck and throw it to the ground. Apparently, the figure sensed her, though, and threw itself to one side, making Buffy miss and "oof" as she hit the ground. Both rolled to a standing position faceing each other. Bill and Faith turned and came running back, Marley behind them, getting their first look at the figure.

The figure was a man, not as tall as Bill, good looking but with too blonde hair, obviously dyed. He was wearing a black tee shirt and black jeans, as well as a long, black, leather duster. All in all, he looked a bit like Billy Idol.

"Is there a problem?" he asked, smirking, with a British accent, though, not quite the same as Giles'.

Bill glared at him. "Yeah, there is,"he said. "Why are you following me and my sisters?"

The guy smirked again, holding up his hands in supplication. "It's not what you're thinking,"he said. "I don't bite." He seemed amused as they looked at him, perplexed. He regarded Buffy. "Truth is, I thought you'd all be taller. Or bigger. You know, more muscles and all. Still, you're pretty spry. You almost got me there!"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "WHAT do you want?" she asked.

The guy gave them another smirk, which Buffy found really irritating. "What does anybody REALLY want?" he asked. "*I* just wanna help you with what YOU want."

Faith rolled her eyes. "Okaaaaay," she said. "What do WE want?"

The guy's face went deadly serious. "To kill 'em,"he said simply. "To kill 'em all."

Faith made a buzzing noise. "Sorry," said Buffy, doing her best impression of a game show announcer. "You're wrong. But you do get this lovely watch and a years supply of Turtle Wax as a parting gift."

" What we want," said Bill. " is to be left alone." Marley stayed back and let her Slayer siblings handle things.

"You really think that's an option anymore?" the guy . "You're standing at the mouth of Hell, and it's about to open." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out three small boxes, tossing one each to Buffy, Faith and Bill. "You'll need these. Don't turn your back on this. You've got to be ready." He looked apologetically to Marley. "Sorry, luv, don't have one for you."

"Ready for what?" Buffy asked, turning to face him.

"The Harvest," said the guy, turning to leave, a definite swagger in his step.

"Wait,"said Faith. "Who are you?"

The guy stopped and looked back at them, the smirk returning. "Let's just say I'm a friend," he said, then turned to leave again.

Bill rolled his eyes. "Maybe we don't WANT a friend," he said, growling slightly.

The guy never turned. "I never said I was YOURS, mate, "he called back as he walked away.

The siblings all stared after him as he sauntered off, not sure what to make of this guy. "So, what was tHAT all about?" asked Marley, indicating the boxes. the others all shrugged and opened them.

In each box, was a small, antique silver cross on a chain. The girls' were identical, Bill's looking more like something a man would wear.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Santana, Brittany and Quinn were sitting with Willow, watching the band when the Summers' walked into the Bronze. Jesse had been with them for a bit, but had wandered of, "on the prowl" Santana expected. Her breath caught as the Summers' walked over and she caught sight of Buffy. She looked niiiiiice tonight. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in that scent that was uniquely Buffy.

"Hi guys," they all said, smiling at the group.

"Oh! Hi! Hi," said Willow, brightly.

"Hey ," said Brittany and Quinn , Britt giving Santana a smirk at the way Buffy seemed to be digging her dress

Santana rolled her eyes but was inwardly pleased. She pointed to the chair next to her. "Hi Guys,"she said. "Buffy, I saved you a seat." Buffy smiled and took the chair next to her as Marley and Faith squeezed in. Bill nodded at the girls and moved towards the stage, his head bopping a little bit as he watched the band.

"If Xander shows up, he'll just have to sit on the floor," said Willow.

"Are you expecting him?" asked Marley, looking perhaps a touch hopeful to Santana..

"More like HOPING," quipped Santana. Britt elbowed her.

"Be nice," she murmured under her breath.

"Oh?" said Faith, smiling, intrigued. "Are you guys going out?"

"Oh no," said Willow. "We're just friends."

"They used to go out," said Santana, smirking, earning what must pass for a death glare from Willow. "But they broke up."

"Oh? How come," asked Buffy.

Willow blushed. "He...stole my Barbie."

The Summers girls all looked confused.

"We were five," supplied Quinn.

"Oh," said Buffy, seemingly all she could think to say. Santana thought she was cute when she was confused.

"I don't actually date a whole lot...lately," said Willow.

"Why not?" asked Buffy.

"That's what we all want to know," said Brittany.

"Well,"said Willow, clearly a little embarrassed at being the center of attention. "When I'm with a boy I like, it's hard for me to say something cool, or witty, or...at ALL actually. I usually just make a few vowel sounds then run away."

Buffy and Santana both laughed. "It's not THAT bad," said Buffy.

"It IS," insisted Willow. "I think boys are more interested in a girl who can talk."

All of the other girls looked at her. "Ok, you clearly HAVEN'T been dating lately," quipped Faith.

"It's probably easy for you guys," said Willow.

Quinn sort of shifted in her chair. "Oh yeah, REALLY easy," said Buffy, a little forlornly.

"I think she means you don't seem too shy,"said Quinn, jumping in with the save. Willow nodded.

"Well, " Buffy began. "Our philosophy is..."

"Buff," interrupted Faith. "Maybe they don't to hear our philosophy."

"I DO," said Willow.

"Me too," added Quinn.

"Always,"said Santana, looking at Buffy a little breathlessly. She looked away, glad for her latina coloring so the others couldn't see her light blush.

"Life is short,"said Buffy and Faith together.

"Life is short," said Quinn, as if she had been expecting more.

"Not terribly original," said Santana with a teasing grin.

Buffy rolled her eyes at her. "I'll give you that,"she said. "But it's true. Why waste time being all shy? Why worry about if some guy who is probably just as nervous as you are is gonna laugh at you? You know?"

"Seize the day," said Faith. " Because, tomorrow you might be dead."

Marley rolled her eyes. "Did you HAVE to add that part?" Faith nudged her.

Santana, Brittany and Quinn digested this. What Buffy had said was true, though, a touch...morbid?

"Oh," said Willow. "That's nice..." She seemed to mull it over. "seize the day."

Bill walked back to the group as the band switched songs. "They're actually not too bad," he said.

"Oh," said Santana. "I love this song! Let's go dance!" She grabbed Buffy's hand, while an equally enthused Brittany grabbed Faith's, and Bill grabbed Quinn's and the six of them went out on the dance floor. Marley and Willow looked at each other, chuckled and went to join them.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Across town, the large vampire stood by an alter, watching the pool of blood on the floor. He moved back, his eyes wide with religious fervor as a head shot up from the pool. While it had two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and two ears, other than that, there was virtually no resemblance to a human face. The head rose from the blood, a slim but obviously powerful body attached to it. It was wearing a black leather outfit with a vaguely SS look to it.

As powerful as the large vampire was, he obviously stood in awe of this one. "Master," he said reverently.

The Master looked back at him. "Luke," he said. "I'm weak."

"Come the Harvest, you'll be restored," said Luke with conviction.

"The Harvest," said the Master with almost the reverence Luke held him in.

"We are almost there, my Master," said Luke. "Soon, you'll be free."

The Master stepped forward, past Luke. He stopped and reached his hand out slowly. As he did, the air before him seemed to ripple slightly... a sort of mystic wall. He pulled his hand back and turned to Luke. "I must be ready," he said. "I need my strength."

"I've sent your servants to bring you some food," said Luke.

"Good," answered the Master simply, clearly dismissing Luke. "Luke," he called as the bigger vampire started to leave.

Luke paused. "Yes?" he asked.

"Bring me something...young," ordered the Master.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Buffy was having a great time. She and the others had been out on the dance floor non stop for awhile, mostly dancing in a group, though sometimes breaking off into pairs, Bill and Quinn, Marley and Willow, Faith and Brittany and Buffy and especially liked watching Faith and Brittany dance together. Both were good dancers, and they somehow managed to dance sexily together without quite moving into Dirty Dancing. Buffy knew Faith was bi and was starting to get that idea about Brittany.

The song ended and the band started a slow song. Bill and Quinn automatically started slow dancing together, as did Faith and Brittany. Marley and Willow went up to the bar to get sodas for all of them.

Santana gave Buffy a coy, almost shy look. "Wanna drive all the boys, and maybe some of the girls here crazy?" she asked, holding out her hand.

Buffy's breath caught. Was Santana asking her to dance? Wow. Here, in front of all these people. Still, Buffy saw it as an opportunity, and Faith and Brittany were doing it so she nodded and took Santana's hand.

Santana led Buffy out to the dance floor and took her in her arms. The two started dancing, close but not too close, gazing into each others eyes. They, as well as Faith and Brittany, garnered a lot of attention, but, a lot of people just wrote it off as two close friends out having fun. Of those who caught on, some of course seemed to be giving them judgmental looks, especially Cordelia, most of the boys seemed...intrigued, and some didn't really pay attention.

"I never slow danced with another girl before," said Buffy, smiling shyly. "I think I like it."

Santana smiled. "Doesn't suck, huh?" she said.

"Not remotely," said Buffy, moving a little closer.

"So," said Santana. "We've told you a lot about us. How about you? I get the idea you had kind of a hard time in LA."

Buffy panicked a little. "Iiiiit's, really not that interesting,"she said.

"It is to me," said Santana, her voice slightly husky. Buffy shook her head. She'd never felt this drawn to someone so quickly. "Ok,' she sighed, feeling she could trust Santana. "Well, things were normal for a long time. Bill, Faith and I, we've always been close, but, we weren't exactly part of the same crowds. Bill hung out with the more musical people, mostly rockers. Faith hung out with people that were outsiders. And me? I was a cheerleader and one of the popular girls. I was actually, well, honestly, I was kind of like Cordelia seems to be. I probably wouldn't have been too nice to Willow, Xander and Jesse if I'd known them back at Hemry."

"So, what happened?" asked Santana. "You don't seem that way now."

Buffy sighed. "Things just started happening," she said. "My Mom blames it on the fact that she and my Dad were always busy. They also started fighting a lot. Then, we all started getting into trouble. We started cutting school, staying out all night, getting into fights. Mom and Dad started fighting more. We finally got kicked out of school when we kinda burned down the school gym. Mom and Dad got a divorce, Mom got custody and we all five moved here." She cringed inwardly. She was a lot more worried about Santana's reaction to all this than she thought she would be. She also felt bad, not telling Santana the full story.

"Wow," said Santana. "Well, for what it's worth, I have a sort of bad reputation too. Oh, I'm one of the "cool kids" but, see, I have this temper, I'm actually almost always angry, and I've been in a few fights myself. Mostly though, it comes through with me being a total bitch and cutting people down with a stream of insults. Once or twice, I've been known to go on for over a minute."

It was Buffy's turn to say "Wow. I totally haven't seen that side of you. I mean, sure you're a little smart ass." She grinned teasingly as Santana glared at her. "but, I haven't known you to be mean."

"That's because you've mostly only seen me when I'm with Britt and Quinn," answered Santana. "I'm happiest when I'm with them. We're actually good for each other. We keep each other grounded. Quinn tends to draw into herself. Not as badly as Willow, but she does. And Britt, well, she's sweet, but, she can be way too trusting of people, and her mind definitely works in it's own way. We're actually almost normal people when we are together." She smirked and gestured Faith shaking her head and laughing at something Brittany was saying. "Well, Quinn and I are almost normal people."

Buffy chuckled. "Well," she said. "You and I have been alone for a few, and still not seeing any signs of Bitchy Santana."

Santana smiled at her, letting a bit of flirtation into it. "Apparently, you affect me the same way," she said, a bit huskily. Then she stopped and Buffy could almost see the gears turning in Santana's head. "Wow."

"Wow?" asked Buffy.

"I think I'm starting to realize something," answered Santana. "I've always been happiest when I was with Brittany and Quinn. Mostly Britt. And I feel the same when I'm with you. I'm gonna share something with you, Buffy, because I trust you. Quinn and I are just friends, but Britt and I, well, we've had a "friends with benefits" relationship for awhile now. And yeah, benefits means just what you think it does. "Buffy blushed a little but nodded for Santana to continue. "Buffy, I'm no innocent. I've dated guys, been sexual with a couple of them, but, I've never really FELT anything, except when I was with Brittany. I'm not in love with her, but, sex with her actually MEANS something to me." She paused a moment, gathering her thoughts. "And Buffy, we haven't had sex, we haven't even kissed, but being here with you right now makes me happier than I've ever been before."

.Buffy smiled. "Sooo," she said. "You kinda like me then?"

Santana looked very seriously into her eyes. "More than I ever have anybody else," she said sincerely. "Buffy, you make me feel things I've never felt before."

Buffy beamed at her. "I feel the same way,"she said. "the moment I saw you this morning, I was attracted to you. I've felt that way looking at other girls before, but, never this strongly. It's kinda mind boggling."

"Yeah," breathed Santana.

"And I need to figure out what it means," Buffy continued. "Is this just a lustful attraction or something more. Part of me wants to press my lips up to yours right now, but, I can't until I figure a few things out. Are you ok with that?"

Santana smiled at her. "Buffy," she said. "This is new to me too. So, yeah, we both probably need to figure a few things out." She smirked a little." But, don't leave me waiting too long."

"No worries,"said Buffy smiling. The song stopped and music sped up again.

"Mind if we take a break?" asked Santana. "I need to hit the ladies room."

Buffy had looked up and saw a familiar figure moving on the balcony. "Sure," she said furrowing her brow. "I'll meet you back at the table in a few."

"Ok," said Santana, who went and grabbed Quinn and Brittany and the three went off to the ladies room as Buffy went over to Bill and Faith and pointed up at the balcony. The three teens looked over and saw that Marley and Willow were up at the bar, so made their way up to the balcony.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A/N: Only real changes here are a bit of editing. Hope you enjoyed.


	5. Chapter 4 Welcome To The Hellmouth Pt 4

**Chapter Four Welcome To The Hellmouth Pt 4**

Bill and his sisters made their way up to a balcony overlooking the stage, and saw Giles leaning up against it. They went up and joined him, Faith on one side, Bill and Buffy on the other. " So, you like to party with the students?" Faith teased. " Isn't that kinda skanky?"

Giles tone was withering. "Right, this is me having fun. Watching clown hair prance around is certainly MY idea of a party. I'd much rather be home with a cup of bovril and a good book."

Buffy grinned and shook her head. "You need a personality, stat."

"What the hell is Bovril?" asked Faith. Bill shrugged.

"This is the perfect breeding ground for vampiric activity," he admonished them. "Dark, crowded...Besides, I figured you'd show up, and I have to make you understand..."

"The Harvest is coming," interrupted Bill. "We know, your friend told us."

Giles started and gave her an anxious look. "What did you say?" he asked.

"The...Harvest," said Buffy carefully. "That's what your friend said. Does that mean anything to you? Because, we're drawing a blank."

"I'm not sure," said Giles thoughtfully. "Who told you this?"

"This guy we ran into on our way here," said Faith, fingering the cross she was wearing. They had all three put on the crosses. " Bleach blonde hair, British accent, long black duster, kinda good looking, in an annoying sort of way."

" We thought he was a friend of yours," said Bill.

"No," said Giles.. "Did he say anything else?"

"Just something about the mouth of Hell,"said Buffy irritably. "We really didn't like him!"

Giles nodded thoughtfully, and the four observed the crowd for a moment in silence, as the kids bopped and swayed to the rhythm of the band.

"Look at them," Giles said, sounding almost annoyed. "Throwing themselves about, completely unaware of the danger that surrounds them."

They didn't look at him. "Lucky them," Faith said wistfully.

"Or, you could be right," Giles conceded. "Maybe there is no trouble brewing. The signs have been wrong before. It's not like you're having the dreams."

The siblings all started, thinking of the nightmare Buffy had had before school this morning. They sighed and looked back at the crowd.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Jesse pushed his way through the crowd at the Bronze. He hadn't seen Xander yet, and he'd noticed Willow, and The Unholy Trinity, as he jokingly called Santana, Quinn and Britt, talking to the new kids they'd met at school, The Summers Siblings, and decided not to bother them, so now, he, Jesse Mcnally, was on the prowl.

He spotted his prey, Cordelia Chase, holding court over her little group of Cordettes. His breath caught. yeah, Cordelia was a bitch a lot of the time, especially to he, Willow and Xander, but he'd had a major crush on her almost since day one. He started over. Tonight is my night, he thought to himself. Tonight everything changes.

"My Mom doesn't even get out of bed anymore," Cordelia was saying. The doctor says it's Epstein Barr, but I'm like "please! It's chronic hepatitis, or at least Chronic Fatigue Syndrome." I mean, nobody cool has Epstein Barr anymore." Her Cordettes nodded like the mindless drones most of them were.

"Cordelia," said Jesse, walking over with what he hoped was a charming smile.

"Oh yay,"said Cordelia rolling her eyes at her friends. "It's my stalker."

Jesse ignored the insult and stood right next to her. All thought left his brain, and the only thing he could come up with to say was, "Hey, you look great!"

"Well, I'm glad we had this chat," said Cordelia, starting to move away.

""Listen," Jesse blurted out. "I, um, well, do you wanna dance?

Cordelia looked almost stunned. "With YOU?" she asked witheringly.

Jesse tried to laugh it off. "Well, uh, yeah," he said.

"Well, uh, NO," said Cordelia, completely dismissing him as she and her friends took off.

Jesse watched them go, ignoring the stab of pain he felt. "Plenty of other fish in the sea," he said to himself. "Oh yeah, back on the prowl. Witness me prowling."

As he renewed his prowl, he missed a really pretty blonde girl watching him, predatorially.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Look," Bill said to Giles. "It's not like we're saying we'll NEVER slay another vampire. If we run into one sure."

"We're just not going to get way extra curricular with it." added Faith. It sounded lame, even to her own ears.

"But will you be ready?" asked Giles. "There's so much you don't know about them, about your own powers. A vampire appears to be a normal human, until the feed is upon them. Only then do they reveal their demonic visage."

"Demonic visage?" quoted Buffy. "You're like a walking thesaurus. Besides, we KNOW all this!"

Ignoring Buffy's outburst, Giles continued. "The point is, a Slayer should be able to see them anyway. Without looking. Without thinking. Can you tell me if there's a vampire in this building? Any of you"

They scanned the crowd. "Maybe?" Faith said, sounding unsure.

"You should KNOW!" Giles said. "Even through this mass and this...din. You should be able to sense them. Try. Reach out with your minds."

They each took a deep breath and looked out over the crowd.

"You have to hone your senses,"instructed Giles. "Focus until the energy washes over you..."

"There's two right there," Buffy interrupted.

"What?" asked Giles, looking down at the crowd. "Where?"

Faith pointed. "Right there,"she said. "Talking to those girls."

In the far corner, two good looking young man were talking to two girls who had her backs to Giles and the girls.

Giles looked doubtful. "But you don't KNOW..."

"Oh, please," interrupted Buffy. "That jacket? With the sleeves all rolled up? And that shirt."

"And the other one looks like Miami Vice on steroids." added Faith. " Deal with those outfits for a moment!" Bill just stood back and smirked at the look on Giles' face.

Giles looked. "They're dated?" he asked.

"They're CARBON dated!" answered Buffy. "Vampires always think fashion ended the year they died. Trust me, only someone who's been skulking underground for at least ten years would think that was the look!"

"But...but you didn't hone..." began Giles.

"Oh my GOD," said Bill, suddenly, pointing.

The vampires were still chatting with the girls, motioning for the girls to come with them. They stepped aside and the girls turned, and,Bill's Faith's and Buffy's stomachs all dropped.

"Isn't that..." Giles began.

"Marley," said Buffy, pointing to her younger sister.

"And Willow," said an equally dismayed Faith.

"What are they doing?" asked Giles

"Seizing the day," Bill threw back at him as he and the girls headed off towards the stairs.

The kids fought their way back down the stairs and looked around. There was no sign of Marley, Willow, or the vampire's they'd been talking to.

"I'll go this way," said Bill, indicating a direction. "You two stick together."

Picking a direction the girls headed for the backstage door. The closer they got, the more of a crowd they had to fight their way through, but they finally made it and pushed through the door.

They found it dark, and something of a labyrinth back one seemed to be about, but they still made her way cautiously. Buffy spied an old chair and snapped off a leg to make a makeshift stake. Faith snapped another leg off and the girls continued looking around, Buffy in the lead.

Suddenly, as she turned a corner, there was a figure in front of her face to face. Buffy grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, lifting him two feet off the floor, holding the stake to his chest. . Faith raised her stake as well. He made a girlish squeak.

It wasn't a him!

"Cordelia!" exclaimed Buffy, lowering the stake and setting her down.

Cordelia's dumbfounded look was almost comical. "God!" she exclaimed. "WHAT exactly is your childhood trauma? Could you two BE any weirder?"

The girls looked around. Oh goody. Cordelia's court was with her. "Did you guys see our sister Marley?" Faith asked. "Or Willow? Did they go by here?"

"Why?" asked Cordy. "Did you need to attack them with a stick too?"

The girls blushed and gave up. They went back the way they came, leaving Cordelia and her friends still agape.

Cordelia regained her composure and took out her phone. "Excuse me," she said. "I need to call everybody I've ever met!"

The made their way back into the Bronze proper and found Giles waiting for them.

"Are they dead?"he asked , sounding impressed. "That was fast. Well done. I'd best get to the library. This "Harvest" is...""

"We didn't find them," said Faith.

Giles looked shocked. "The vampire's aren't dead?" he asked.

"No," snapped Buffy. "But our social life is on the critical list"

"What do we do,"asked Giles.

"You go on. Well take care of it," Faith said as they turned to leave.

"Maybe I should come with you," said Giles, worried for some reason.

"'Two vampires, three of us, when we find Bill" said Buffy as they left. "We've got this."

They were so focused, they didn't notice as they brushed past Jesse, who was talking to the same blonde girl who'd been watching him earlier.

"I haven't seen you before," Jesse said, trying to be charming. "Do you live around here."

"No," said the blonde smiling up at him, both innocently and flirtatiously. "But I have family here."

"Cool," said Jesse." Have I met them?" Billy.

The blonde gave him a mysterious smile. "You probably WILL," she said.

"What's your name?" asked Jesse, totally forgetting his humiliation at Cordelia's hands earlier.

"Darla."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Marley found herself nervously uncomfortable as she and Willow walked down the street with the boys, Thomas and Micheal they'd said their name's were, who had approached them at the Bronze. Marley shook her head at herself. Bill and her sisters were going to be FURIOUS with her. Leaving with them was totally unlike her, unlike Willow too, probably , but Buffy's and Faith's words had struck a chord with Willow, and Marley herself was tired of always being responsible. Besides, what were the odds these guys were dangerous?

Willow looked around nervously. "Sure is dark," she said, seeming to be desperately searching for SOMETHING to say.

Thomas shrugged. "It's night," was all he said.

"That's a dark time," agreed Marley, somewhat lamely. "Night. Traditionally." She too was clearly out of her element. Willow was wishing they were already at the ice cream place so at least she wouldn't have to talk much while eating ice cream.

The guys pretty much ignored them , then stopped and turned towards the woods.

"Er," said Willow. "The ice cream bar is down that way. Past Hamilton street."

Micheal smiled. "We know a shortcut," he said, taking Marley's hand as Thomas took Willows hand and leading them into the dark woods.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Santana, Quinn and Brittany left the ladies room and saw no sign of their friends.

"That's weird," said Santana, looking around. She didn't smell or hear anything particular with her werewolf senses, but, her "hackles" were rising as if something was wrong.

"Wait," said Brittany, pointing. "There's Bill."

Santana looked up as Bill came over to them. She smirked a little at the look on Quinn's face. Clearly, she and Buffy had not been the only connection made between The Unholy Trinity and The Summers Siblings.

"Have you guys seen Marley or Willow?" Bill asked as he walked over.

"No," answered Quinn. "Not since they went to get drinks.

"Is something wrong?"Santana and Quinn asked at the same time.

"We need to find them," said Bill. "They left with a couple of guys."

The four went outside the Bronze to find Buffy and Faith had run into Xander.

"We are talking about Willow, right?" Xander was saying. He looked impressed. "Scoring at the Bronze. Work it, girlfriend!"

Buffy looked around, increasingly perturbed. "We have to find them," she said. "Where would they go?"

"Buffy," said Santana, her hackles now DEFINITELY rising. "Do you know something about the two Mr. Goodbars we don't?"

Buffy, Faith and Bill just turned to leave,Santana, Quinn and Brittany automatically following.

"Oh, hey," said Xander, sardonically. "I hope he isn't a VAMPIRE, because then you'd have to SLAY him!"

"Vampire?" asked Santana and Quinn together.

Faith turned to look at him shocked. First Giles, now him. "Was there a school bulletin?" she asked. "Was it on the news? Is there anybody in this town that doesn't know we're the Slayers?"

"Slayers?" asked Santana.

"I only know that you THINK you're the Slayers," said Xander. "And I only know that because I was in the library earlier when you were talking to The Man In Tweed."

Buffy shook her head. "Whatever," she said. "Just tell us where Willow would go."

Santana looked into Buffy's eyes, totally believing her. "You're serious," she said more than asked.

"We don't find them there's gonna be two more dead bodies in the morning," said Faith. "And one of them is going to be our sister."

"We're deadly serious, Xander," said Bill.

"Ok,": said Xander, believing him. "Come on."

All seven of them looked at each other and took off.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Willow was getting increasingly creeped out. Thomas and Micheal had led them into a graveyard. "Ok, this is nice," she said. "and-and scary. Are you SURE this way is faster?"

The guys said nothing, they just continued to hold onto their hands and pull them 'd seemed so nice and charming at The Bronze, but now they just seemed...almost predatory. Willow could tell Marley agreed.

They stopped at a small mausoleum. The entrance was bathed in blackness. "Ever been inside one of these?" Micheal asked them.

"No," Marley answered, trying to pull away. "And no thank you."

"C'mon," he said, moving closer. "What are you afraid of?"

Willow stumbled as both she and Marley were pushed inside. She looked around, frightened as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The place was small, with carved stone walls. A large tomb, with a statue of a man lying atop it filled much of the space. Across from the main door which she just came in, was a much smaller iron door.

The two girls spun around, glaring at Thomas and Micheal , who were now filling the entrance. "That wasn't funny," Willow scolded. It had no effect. They just stepped closer to them, their faces hidden in shadows.

Marley reached over and grabbed Willow's hand. Willow looked at her, to see a scared look on her face. Almost like she had just realized something. "Come on, Willow, she said as they backed away circling back towards the entrance. " We REALLY need to get out of here!"

"You think so, huh? " Thomas asked, no playfulness to his voice, only menace. The girls continued to back away, then each backed right into somebody. They stepped back, Willow emitting something somewhere between a squeak and a scream. She saw the person she backed into was a blonde girl wearing a catholic school uniform.

Darla looked at them disdainfully. "Is this the best you can do?" she asked Thomas and Micheal.

Thomas shrugged. "They're fresh," he said, the four conversing as if Willow and Marley were not even there.

"Hardly enough to share," commented Darla.

Micheal shrugged this . "You should have brought your own then."

Darla smirked and indicated the doorway. "I did," she said as Jesse came stumbling in, looking totally out of it.

"Hey, wait up," Jesse said, holding his neck.

"JESSE!" exclaimed Willow, running over to him.

Jesse looked at Darla. "I think you gave me a hickey," he said. He pulled his hand away to reveal blood on both it and his neck. Willow's eyes went wide as she stared at Thomas, Micheal and Darla.

Darla shrugged as Thomas gave her a look. "I got hungry on the way," she said.

Willow grabbed Jesse's arm. "Jesse," she said, almost panicked. "Let's get out of here."

Darla took a step towards them. "You're not going anywhere!" she said menacingly.

"Leave us alone!" Willow half demanded, half pleaded.

Darla lunged forward, coming face to face with Willow. "You're not going anywhere until we've FED!" She snarled as her face changed. Her eyes went yellow, her face taking on a sort of ridged bumpy look and her teeth elongated. Willow screamed and pulled back and fell to the floor, Marley stepping in front of her. Thomas and Micheal's faces had changed too and they laughed as they, and Darla, circled them.

"Well, this is nice," came a voice from the doorway. Willow and Marley both looked in that direction.

"God, am I glad to see you guys!" said Marley, sounding relieved. The voice had belonged to Buffy. Bill and Faith were with her.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Buffy looked appraisingly around the room as she and her siblings stepped inside, Santana, Quinn, Brittany and Xander behind them. The mausoleum was now rather crowded.

"A little bare," Faith quipped. "But, throw on a dash of paint, put out a few throw pillows and call it home!"

"You two are weird," said Bill, shaking his head at his sisters.

"Who the hell are you?" snarled Darla.

Buffy looked surprised. "Wow, you mean there's actually somebody in this town who DOESN'T know already? That's a relief. I tell ya, keeping a secret identity in this town is a job of work!"

Santana looked at her. "Well, to be fair, WE aren't sure."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I'll explain later," she promised.

Xander moved towards Willow,Jesse, and Marley and helped Willow to her feet. "Guys, we bail now, right?" he said.

"Not just yet," said Thomas threateningly.

Buffy looked at him and rolled her eyes. "First of all," she said. "what is with that outfit? Live in the now, ok? You like like...DeBarge." She turned to Darla. "Now, we can do this the hard way or..."

"Well, yunno what?" snarled Faith." There's actually only the hard way!"

"Believe her," said Bill, clenching his fists. He looked at Marley. "We'll talk later," he said with a glare making Marley gulp.

"Fine by us," said Darla.

"Are you sure?" asked Buffy. "Because this isn't gonna be pretty. We're talking violence, strong language, adult content..."

Thomas growled, tired of their talk and charged at them. Without ever looking at him, Faith launched a spin kick into his stomach, making him double over, and Bill grabbed him, punched him twice and flipped him over onto his back. Buffy whipped out a stake and dusted him.

"SEE what happens when you roughhouse?" she asked the other vampires.

Darla looked wary but nowhere near cowed. "He was young and stupid," she said, assuming a fighting stance, Micheal assuming one next to her.

"You guys, go!" shouted Buffy, never taking her eyes off Darla. Xander and Marley nodded and ushered Willow and Jesse outside.

"We're not leaving you," Santana told Buffy determinedly. Quinn and Brittany nodded in agreement.

Bill looked at them "I swear, we can handle things in here," he promised. "Look, I need you guys to keep the others safe. Please, don't argue." Buffy and Faith both nodded. Seeing the sincerity and determination on their faces, Santana nodded and ushered Quinn and Brittany out of the mausoleum before her.

"I got this," Santana called back as she left.

"Don't go far!" Darla called after them. She lunged at Buffy who parried her blows with martial arts precision, though it was clear Darla was stronger. Faith jumped in to help her sister, and the three exchanged blows. With the last punch, Faith caught Darla's wrist, landed a punch of her own to the gut , as Buffy grabbed Darla's other arm and they flipped Darla to the ground.

Micheal charged Bill, who caught him by his jacket and slammed him against a wall.

Buffy stood over Darla, all traces of humor gone from her face. "You know," she said. "We JUST wanted to start over. Be like everybody else. Have some friends, maybe a dog. But, no, you had to come here."

Faith punched her. " You couldn't go suck on some other town!"

Bill, meanwhile, slammed Micheal against the wall a couple more times, stunning him. Buffy tossed him her stake and he dusted the vampire.

Darla completely bemused. "Who ARE you?" she asked.

Buffy gave her an almost predatory look."You don't know?" she asked.

Suddenly, large hands grabbed Faith and Buffy each by the throat and lifted them bodily from the ground. He stepped out of the shadows, his bulk dwarfing The girls. "I don't care," he said.

"Luke!" exclaimed Sheila.

Luke threw The girls a good fifteen feet. They hit the wall, face first, landing badly. He turned to Darla, as Bill went to see if his sisters were ok. . "You were supposed to bring an offering for the Master," he said accusingly. "We're almost at the Harvest, and you dally with these children?"

"We had some," protested Darla. "But they came and...they killed Thomas and Micheal. Luke, they're strong."

Luke waved Darla off contemptuously. "You go," he ordered. "I'll stay and see if I can handle these three." Darla left and Luke turned back to Buffy and Faith and Bill.

Buffy and Faith got to their feet next to Bill, all three ready for him this time. He reached out and grabbed Faith, but she knocked his arms away and the girls double kicked him in the face, knocking him back. He recovered in a second and landed a solid punch to Buffy's face.

"You ARE strong," he granted, almost seeming impressed. Then he slammed Faith back into the ground, stunning her.

Suddenly, Bill punched him in the jaw, actually knocking him back a step. "I'M stronger," he informed Luke.

"So I see, boy," said Luke, actually smiling. With lightning speed, he reached out and grabbed Bill by his shirt, slamming a punch into his face. "I'm stronger, STILL," he said, punching Bill three more times, knocking him out, and dropping him onto the floor next to a still stunned Faith. "AND faster."

Buffy got to her feet and threw a punch, which Luke blocked. She ducked under one of his, threw another and he caught her arm, backhanding her and knocking her back again. He looked at her disdainfully. "You're wasting my time," he said.

Buffy circled the tomb, keeping it between herself and Luke. "Hey, we had other plans too," she said. Luke suddenly shoved the tomb with all his might, sending it flying towards her. Buffy jumped over it, landing on top of the tomb, then lept off of it, did a flip and landed both feet solidly in Luke's chest, knocking them both back. She recovered first, and pulled her stake back out, driving it towards his chest. He caught it at the last minute and squeezed, splintering it in his powerful grip.

"You think you can stop me? Can stop US?" he asked as he drove a solid punch into her jaw and knocked her to the ground, dazed. "You have no idea what you're dealing with!" he stood over her, looking triumphant.

"And like a plague of boils," he intoned. "the race of Man covered the Earth. But, on the third day of the newest light will come the Harvest. When the blood of men shall flow as wine. When the Master shall walk among them once more. The world will belong to the Old Ones, and Hell itself will come to town."

Buffy slowly got to her feet, keeping an eye on Luke. This vampire was too strong! But, it wasn't in her to give up, scared as she might be. She lunged in to attack,but he backhanded her with everything he had, sending her flying right into the tomb. She landed hard, knocking the wind out of her. Beside her was the withered corpse of the tombs owner.

Buffy was hurt pretty bad, as she looked up to see no Luke. Where was he? Were Bill and Faith ok? Slowly, achingly, she lifted her head. Truly scared, she looked over one side of the tomb. She looked over the other...

Luke suddenly roared and leaped on top of tried to fight him off, but he had her well pinned. He contemplated her with a gleeful animal hunger for a moment.

"Amen," he said as he bore down on her.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0


	6. Chapter 5 The Harvest Pt 1

**Chapter 5 The Harvest Pt 1**

Santana ushered the other six ahead of her, Xander and Quinn supporting Jesse . It was REALLY sticking in her craw that she'd left Buffy and the others behind, but they had been right. Somebody needed to protect and get the others to safety. Plus, the Triplets SEEMED to know what they were doing.

Finally, they reached the outskirts of the cemetery. "The police station," said Willow as everybody stopped to catch their breath. "We can go to the police station. It's only a couple of blocks from here..

Santana nodded and sniffed the air. Something was not quite right. She smelled...something.

"Might as well be 100 miles," said Xander, pointing ahead of them. Walking towards them were six vampires. The all gaped as Santana stepped forward.

From what Santana's mother had told her, she was stronger and faster than most people, even in her human form, but she'd be even more powerful when she shifted. She tried, but she still couldn't shift. "What's wrong with me?" she muttered.

Suddenly, she heard a half scream half squeak from behind her. She looked to see Willow was backing away and had backed right into Darla. For a moment, she felt hopeless. She couldn't even shift and save her friends! Her fear for her friends, and for Buffy and the others back at the crypt, made her angry. Santana was angry a lot, but this was a whole new level of anger. Her heart started beating faster, and her breathing grew labored.

And then, to the surprise of her friends and foes alike, she changed.

Her hair grew a touch longer and more wild. Her nose flattened a touch, her ears and teeth elongated, and her eyes took on a yellow glow. She flicked both of her wrists, and her fingernails grew into claws.

Santana looked at the vampires ahead of her and grinned. "Showtime," she growled, her voice more gutteral than before as she pounced.

.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Luke bore down on Buffy. No matter how she struggled she couldn't get away. His eyes aglow with victory he ripped open her shirt a bit for easier access to her throat and grabbed her...

And screamed. Smoke curled from his hand as he pulled it back. Buffy looked down to see smoke also curling from the cross that guy had given her. A pair of hands took each of Luke's arms and hurled him backwards. Buffy could swear she heard a stone break behind him. Suddenly, a hand grabbed each of hers, and she was pulled from the coffin. She looked right into the eyes of her brother and her sister.

"C'mon!" said Bill. Hurt and winded from the fight, the three made their way a short way away from the mausoleum and looked behind them. No sign of pursuit. Buffy did a quick scan of the graveyard and they heard a scream.

"Willow!" said all three at once, taking off in that direction.

The scene before them was mayhem. Santana was engaged with two vampires, moving faster than humanly possible as she kicked and slashed at them. Slashed? Were those CLAWS? Another vampire had Willow pinned to the ground, another was menacing Marley and Brittany, while another was dragging off an unconscious Xander.

Buffy wasted no time in launching her foot into the face of the vampire on top of Willow. He flew back, clutching his nose. Buffy then broke a branch off of a nearby tree and charged in and staked him.

Bill made a bee line for the vampire threatening Marley and Brittany. The vampire swung at Brittany who managed to duck gracefully under his fist. Bill caught him by the wrist of the same hand he had tried to punch Brittany with and pulled him closer.

"You wouldn't hit a lady, would you?" He snarled, punching the vampire in the face instead of waiting for an answer. The vampire lashed out with his free hand, catching Bill with a blow to the jaw, knocking his head back and making him release his grip. Bill shook his head and the two squared off.

Faith ran after the vampire who was dragging Xander away and tackled him. The vampire shoved her off and the two rose. Faith ducked under a punch and did a roundhouse kick to the vampires ribs, followed by a kick to his jaw as he knelt over clutching his ribs, sending him to the ground. She kicked him in the side of the head, but, she had no stake.

The vampire Bill was fighting wrapped his arms around Bill in a bear hug. Bill wasted no time in snapping his head forward, headbutting the vampire in the nose. The vamp howled and loosened his grip, but remained together enough to block Bill's next two punches. Bill managed to tag the vampire with a spin kick, sending him to the ground, stunned. Marley, ever prepared Marley, pulled a stake out of her purse and slammed it home. Though she wasn't a Slayer, her brother and sisters had taught her a few moves, and she knew right where to strike to pierce the heart. The vampire exploded into dust.

Buffy, meanwhile, had gone to help Santana. She dragged one of the vampires and pulled him away. Buffy and Santana made an effective fighting team, Buffy clearly faster, but Santana clearly stronger. A flurry of punches, kicks and slashes made short work of the two vampires, and shortly Buffy had staked them both. She turned to Santana, taking in her changed features. "Santana?" she asked.

Santana looked at the ground. "Werewolf," she said. "I'll explain later." Buffy nodded as they looked over to see Faith again knocking her vampire to the ground.

"Stake!" called out Faith in frustration. Bill grabbed Marley's and tossed it to her. Faith caught it and staked the pesky vamp.

Willow ran to Xander and knelt down cradling his head. He started to come to. "Xander, are you ok?" she asked.

"Man," he said. "Something hit me."

Buffy, Faith, Bill and Santana , all looked around, battle ready. "Where's Jesse?" Buffy asked.

"And Quinn," added Bill, exchanging a worried look with Santana and Brittany.

"I-I don't know," said Marley. "They surrounded us."

"Two of them took them," said Xander, rising to his feet. "The blonde from the crypt and another one. A third grabbed me and the others took off."

"Which way?" asked Faith.

Xander shook his head. "I didn't see."

They all looked around. There was no way to tell.

Santana looked around, sniffing the air. "I can't catch their scent," she said, confusedly.

Buffy looked around, her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Quinn," she whispered. "Jesse."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Quinn stumbled along as the three vampires dragged her and Jesse underground, led by that big goon, Luke, that Buffy had fought. She looked around as they dragged them through the tunnels, and into what almost looked like the remains of an old church, only, underground. She looked to Jesse, hoping she was giving the boy a reassuring look, though she herself was scared and her head hurt from being knocked out . Luke had each of them by their necks as the five of them stood and waited.

A figure moved out from the shadows. A... man? stepped out. His skin was pale and his vamp face was even uglier than the others. He just radiated power and it was obvious the other others all revered and feared him.

He looked at Quinn and Jesse. "For me?" he asked.

"An offering, Master," said Luke.

"He's a good one, Master,"said Darla, excitedly, indicating Jesse. "His blood is pure."

The man they called Master turned to look at her. "You've tasted it," he said, a statement, not a question. Darla shrank back. "I'm your loyal dog," he said. "You bring me scraps."

Darla practically shook with fear. "I-I didn't mean," she stammered.

"I have waited,"said the Master dangerously. "For three score years, I have waited. While you come and go, I have been stuck HERE," he looked around in disgust."in this house of WORSHIP!" He moved closer to Darla. "My ascension is almost at hand. Pray that when it comes I'm in a better mood!"

"M-master," said Darla. "Forgive me. We had more offerings, but there was trouble. Three girls and a boy, they killed Thomas, and Micheal and the others."

"Three girls and a boy?" scoffed the Master. "Are you seriously trying to tell me that these children killed several of my minions? How useless ARE you people?"

"They were strong, Master," protested Darla. "And one of the girls was a werewolf."

The Master looked at Darla with disdain. "A werewolf?" he snarled. "You couldn't have LED with that?"

"The other three WERE strong, Master," added Luke. "Especially the boy. They fought well, and they knew of our breed. If I didn't know better, I'd swear they were..."

"Slayers," finished the Master in wonder. "But, there's only ever one. And never a boy. Have you any proof?"

"Only that they fought me and they yet live," Luke answered.

The Master nodded. "Very nearly proof enough. I honestly can't remember the last time that happened."

Luke looked at the floor in shame. "It was 1843, Madrid," he said. "He caught me sleeping."

"So, a werewolf, two possible Slayers, and a mysterious boy," pondered the Master. He looekd to Luke and Darla. "They must not be allowed to interfere with the Harvest."

Luke's eyes went wide. "I would NEVER let that happen!"

"You needn't worry," said the Master, reassuringly. "I believe they'll come to us. We have something they want. If we DO have a Slayer infestation , and these two live, they will come to save them."

Quinn almost wanted to vomit in fear as Luke smiled and stepped closer to her, but she managed to look at him defiantly.

"I thought you children merely a meal," he said. "but you've just been upgraded. To BAIT!"

"Uh, yay us?" said Jesse, exchanging a look with Quinn that clearly said he wished in the moment he was literally ANYWHERE else.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

It was a somber group that met the next morning. They'd all agreed to meet there to compare notes, and for the others to meet Buffy's, Faith's and Bill's "Watcher", Rupert Giles, who would explain things to them. Santana had always thought there was something a little odd about the new librarian, and she was about to find out what it was.

Right now, Giles was standing on the libraries upper level, looking over the railing at the others as they all sat at one of the library tables. Willow and Xander looked as if they had gotten little to no sleep. Santana knew Brittany had gotten none. The girl had been so disconsolate that she'd had to spend the night at Santana's. Santana's parents quickly agreed after hearing Santana's story, and Britt's parents seldom refused to allow her to stay at Santana's, even on a school night. Faith and Marley sat on either side of Bill, almost huddled into him. The Summers' had all had a rough night, the three girls all sleeping in one bad, while Bill slept in another in their room.

"The world is older than any of you know," said Giles gravely, giving a nearby globe a spin. "and contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons, Demons walked the Earth, made it their home...their Hell." He started down the stairs.

"Hell on Earth," quipped Santana softly. "Literally." Faith rolled her eyes.

"In time, they lost their purchase on this reality," continued Giles, ignoring her. "and way was made for mortal animals. For Man. What remains of the Old Ones are vestiges: Certain magics, certain creatures..."

"Like vampires," said Buffy, coming out of Giles office wrapping a bandage around her forearm. She sat down between Faith and Santana. Santana turned to her and started helping her wrap her wrist.. The two girls exchanged a smile.

Xander rose, clearly agitated, and started pacing. "Okay, this is where I have a problem, see," he said. "because we're now talking about vampires. We're having a talk with vampires in it, and you guys," he indicated Giles, Santana and the Summers'. "are acting like it's the most normal thing in the world!"

"Ooooooh," said Willow looking dazed. "I need to sit down!"

"You ARE sitting down," said Faith, looking amused.

"Oh," said Willow. "Good for me!"

""So, vampires are demons,"concluded Brittany, getting back on track.

Giles nodded. "The books tell that the last Demon to leave this reality fed off a human, mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed -infected- by the Demon's soul. And so they walk the Earth, feeding. Killing some, mixing their blood with others to make more of their kind. Waiting for the animals to die out, and the old ones to return."Giles spoke as if reciting something he had long ago memorized. "As long as there have been vampires, there has been the Slayer. One girl in all the world ..."

Buffy put her hand on Santana's forearm. Santana could swear her skin tingled where Buffy's hand touched. "He loves doing this part."

"Behave," said Santana, almost chuckling.

Giles gave them a death glare as Faith and Bill exchanged an eye roll.. "All right," he said. "The Slayer hunts vampires. When one Slayer dies, the next is called. Buffy Faith and Bill are Slayers. Don't tell anyone." He looked at Buffy. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic," said Buffy dryly.

"Wait," said Santana, apparently picking up on something the others had missed. "You said "ONE GIRL in all the world". Well, there are THREE of them, and Bill is kinda...boy like."

"Our last Watcher thought it was because we were triplets," answered Faith. "He figured that Buffy and I must have both had the potential to be the Slayer, and that when Buffy was called, I was too."

"Buffy is a full Slayer," added Bill . "As you can see, Faith and I look more alike. Merrick thought that because of that, Faith split her powers with me."

Brittany looked at Santana. "And you're a werewolf," she said.

Santana nodded. "Yeah, but I never got bit," she said, though she'd explained all of this to Brittany the night before. "Both of my parents are werewolves."

"Extraordinary," said Giles. "I've never met a hereditary werewolf before. They are quite rare."

Santana nodded. "that's what My mother said," she said. "Last night was my first actual shift. I hadn't been able too before."

Giles nodded."Anyway," he said. "I think that's all the vampire information you need."

"Except for one thing,"said Xander with venom. "How do you kill them?"

"YOU don't," said Buffy emphatically. "WE do."

"Well, Jesse, and Quinn ...," protested Xander, exchanging a look with Brittany.

"They're OUR responsibility," said Faith grimly, indicating herself ,Buffy and Bill.. "WE let them get taken."

"That's not true,"said Willow softly, shaking her head. "If you hadn't showed up when you did, they would have...would have...taken the rest of us too," she said, then suddenly looked pale. "Anybody mind if I pass out?"

Marley put her hand on Willow's shoulder. "Breathe," she instructed.

"Breathe," agreed Willow.

"Breathe," said Buffy who thought a moment and turned to Giles. "The big guy , Luke," she said. "he talked about an "offering" to "the Master". I don't know who or what that is, but, if they weren't just feeding,Jesse and Quinn may still be alive. We're gonna find them."

Brittany looked up. "This is probably a dumb question," she said. "but shouldn't we call the police?"

Faith scoffed. "They'd believe us, of course," said Giles.

"We don't have to say vampires," Willow said . "We could just say there's a...bad man." She winced. That sounded lame even to her.

"They couldn't handle it if they did come," said Buffy, dismissively. "They'd just show up with guns."

Giles looked to the group. "You've no idea where they took Jesse?" he asked.

Bill shook his head. "We looked around," he said. "but as soon as they got clear of the woods they could have just...whoosh!" He made a sort of flying motion with his hands.

"They can fly too?" asked Xander.

Buffy gave him a smile. "They can drive."

"Oh,"said Xander.

"I don't remember hearing a car," said Santana. "I'm pretty sure I would have."

Giles took of his glasses and chewed an ear piece. "Let's take an intuitive leap here," he said. "and assume they went underground."

Buffy nodded. "Vampires really jam on sewers," she said.

"You can get anywhere in town and not catch any rays." added Faith

" I didn't see any sewer access around there though," said Marley thoughtfully.

"Well ,there's electrical tunnels," supplied Xander. "they run under the whole town."

Giles looked thoughtful. "If we had a diagnostic of the tunnel system," he said. "it might indicate a possible meeting place. I suppose we could go to the building commission."

"We SO don't have time," said Buffy, dismissively.

Willow sort of raised her hand. "Guys," she said. "There may be another way."

She got up and walked over to one of the computer tables and fired the computer up. Marley followed her first, then the others.

A map of the electrical tunnels came up on the computer screen.

"There it is," said Buffy.

Willow nodded and continued typing. "This runs under the graveyard."

"I don't see any access, though," said Faith, growing agitated.

Giles looked at the screen with raised eyebrows. "So, all the city plans are just open to the public?"

Willow looked a little nervous. "Er, well, in a way," she said. "I sort of stumbled onto them when I accidentally...decrypted the city council's security system." Faith shook her head and looked impressed.

"Someone's been naughty," Xander teased. Santana chuckled, also looking impressed.

"There's nothing here!" snapped Buffy, turning away. "This is useless!" Faith and Bill nodded

"I think you should let up on yourselves,"said Giles frowning.

Buffy turned on him. "YOU'RE the one who told me I wasn't prepared enough," she snapped. "Understatement! I thought I was on top of it, then that monster Luke came out of nowhere..." she trailed off.

"What is it?" asked Santana.

Buffy paced, working it out. "He didn't come out of nowhere," she said. "He came from behind us. We were facing the entrance."

"He came up behind us and didn't follow us out!" added Faith. She exchanged an excited look with her siblings.

"The access to the tunnels is in the mausoleum!" Buffy concluded.

"Are you sure?" asked Giles.

"The vampires must have doubled back with Quinn and Jesse after we got out," said Buffy. She smacked her own forehead. "God, I am SO mentally challenged!"

"Hey now," said Santana, rubbing the girls back. "None of US picked up on it either."

"So, what's the plan?" asked Xander. "We saddle up and move out?"

"There is no we," said Buffy, softly. "We're the Slayer's. You guys aren't."

"I just KNEW you were gonna throw that in our faces," griped Brittany angrily.

"Xander, Britt" said Faith, a trifle exasperatedly. "This is deeply dangerous!"

"I get it," said Xander, turning away. "I'm inadequate. That's fine. I'm less than a man."

"Xander,"said Marley.

"You're right," said Santana. "This IS deeply dangerous. Which is why I'M going too." She waved off Buffy's protests gbefore the blonde could actually MAKE them. "I'm a werewolf. From what I saw last night, I'm probably almost as strong as Bill. I'm going. If you three are going into a vampire nest, you need my help."

Bill nodded. "She's making sense, Buff," he said. Faith nodded. Buffy reluctantly agreed.

"Guys," said Willow, shyly. "I'm not anxious to go into a dark place full of monsters, but I want to help too. I-I need to."

"Me too," said Marley.

"Then, help me," said Giles. "I need to research this Harvest. Perhaps you can wrest something from this dread machine." He looked a little embarrassed as they all looked at him. " That was a bit British of me, wasn't it?"

"Welcome to the new world," said Faith, shaking her head.

"I want you to go on the Internet,"Giles translated

"OH!" said Willow, happily. "Yeah. Sure. THAT I can do!"

"Then We're out of here," said Buffy.

Faith looked at Willow, Xander and Brittany. "If Quinn and Jesse are alive, we'll bring them back."

"Do I need to tell you to be careful?" asked Giles. the four of them looked at him for a moment, then gave him, a small smile, and left.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A/N: Thanks for reading. Let me know what you thought.


	7. Chapter 6 The Harvest Pt 2

**Chapter 6 The Harvest Pt 2**

Brittany noticed Xander sighing as the two of them walked towards their next class, Willow and Marley having already broken off to head to a computer lab. Britt kind of understood his frustration. The two of them were not much help in the research department. Xander was not particularly studious and Brittany herself, well, sometimes she forgot how to turn a computer on. Both, however, loved movies and had seen a lot of horror movies that involved this sort of stuff, so, they'd decided to make themselves useful by putting their heads together and trying to come up with the sorts of things the others should be looking for.

She also figured that, like her, Xander was pissed off about not being allowed to go with the others. Jesse was Xanders best bud, and Britt, Santana and Quinn were a team. It was totally unfair that they had to be cut out of the rescue just because they were not Slayers or werewolves.

"Murder, death, disaster," said Xander, listing off things to look for and breaking her out of her reverie. "What else?"

Britt looked thoughtful. "Paranormal," she added. "unexplained. Did you get natural disasters?"

"Earthquake," listed Xander. "Flood."

"Rain of toads."

Xander shook his head. "Rain of toads," he said. "Do you think there'll be anything about that in the papers?"

"After class we'll mention it to Willow or Marley to put in the computer search," she said. "If it's in there it'll turn up. Anything that'll lead us to the vampires."

"And I," said Xander, frowning in self disgust. "will stand around like an idiot doing nothing!"

Britt put a hand on his shoulder. "Never like an idiot. Just...standing. And hey, I don't feel like I'M doing too much either. Quinn and I are just as close as you and Jesse."

Xander sighed. " I know," he said. "This is just too much. I mean, yesterday my life was, like, "uh oh! Pop Quiz!" Today it's rain of toads."

"Yeah," said Britt, a bit wistfully. "And everybody else thinks it's a normal day."

"It's like we have this big secret," added Xander.

Brittany looked at him, confused. "Wait," she said. " I thought that that was what a secret WAS. When you know something the other guy doesn't."

Xander actually chuckled a little at that. "You're right," he said. He indicated the door. "You should probably get to class."

Brittany may not be as smart as Santana or Quinn, but she knew Xander and she knew that look. Something was percolating in his head. She just hoped it wasn't actual coffee. Ew."We," she corrected. "WE should get to class."

"Yeah," said Xander, unconvincingly.

"Xander," said Brittany. "They'll be ok. Whatever's down there, San, Bill, Faith and Buffy can handle it." She looked into Xander's eyes, seeing her own doubts reflected in there. "I'm sure of it."

"Yeah," said Xander. "Me too."

They exchanged a look, a sort of silent communication and nodded.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

After being delayed by a brief run in with Principal Flutie, Santana and the three Summers' finally arrived at the cemetery and easily found the mausoleum. Santana unconsciously edged a little closer to Buffy as they entered the dark place and found the iron door across from the entrance. Bill tried it tried it, but it was locked and he couldn't break the lock by himself. Santana was about to help him when she felt a lurking presence behind them. She rolled her eyes and asked, "I don't suppose you brought a key, did you?" All four turned around to see a man with peroxide blonde hair wearing a black leather duster standing behind them. He matched the description the Summers' had given them all of the man they met outside the Bronze last night.

He stepped out of the shadows, a smirk on his face. "They, really don't like me dropping in," he told them in his British accent. Cockney if Santana's knowledge of her British TV shows was correct.

"And why is that?" asked Buffy.

His smile grew a little bigger. "They really don't like me," he said, a bit cockily.

"Gee," said Faith, sarcastically. "HOW can that possibly be?"

He smirked again. "I know, right?", he said. He addressed all three of them, but his eyes never left Buffy's. Santana and Buffy may have agreed the night before that they needed to figure out what this attraction to each other meant, but, her hackles still rose a little at the attention this stranger gave Buffy. She must have audibly growled because she felt Buffy's take her hand and squeeze it. "I knew you'd figure this entry out sooner or later," they guy continued still looking amused. "Though actually, I thought it was gonna be a little sooner."

All four rolled their eyes. "SO sorry you had to wait," said Buffy, not sounding at all sorry. "Look, if you're gonna be popping up with the cryptic wise woman act on a regular basis, can you at least tell us your name?"

He smirked again "William," he said. "M'name's William."

Bill chuckled. "Good name," he said, making Santana and his sisters all roll their eyes.

William chuckled then turned all serious."Don't go down there," he said.

"Deal with our going," said Santana, challengingly. The others nodded

William shook his head. "Look, I don't think you guys get the big picture here," he said. "you shouldn't be putting yourself at risk. Tonight is The Harvest. If you guys can't stop it, then the Master walks free."

"Look,' said Bill. "if this Harvest thing is such a suckfest, why don't YOU stop it?"

I can't," answered William. "Not by m'self." He indicated Santana. "Neither can Spitfire here. She's the Wolf, but neither one of us is one of The Three."

Faith gave him a puzzled look. "The Three?" she asked.

"There was this Watcher during the last days of the Roman Empire, Rudolphus of Crete," explained William. "Kinda a pompous git, but, he was also a seer. No seer ever had more prophecies about the Slayer than he did. And most of them were true. Anyway, his biggest prophecy was about When Three Are Called." He indicted Buffy, Bill and Faith. "That's you three." He looked at Santana. "You were in it too. Something about them being helped by the Wolf, the Warrior, and the Warthog, or some twaddle. Anyway, I think that The Three are the ones who need to stop the Harvest."

Santana looked at him with haunted eyes. "We have two friends down there," she said. "One of them has been one of my best friends since we were five years old. We can't leave them down there. You DO know what it's like to have friends, right?"

William gave them a sad smile. "Oh, I know," he said. "I also know that friends die. It's something you just can't change."

"Thanks for the pep talk, Coach, but we're going to rescue these two if we can," said Buffy with determination. The others nodded.

William gave her a small smile, then nodded. "When you hit the tunnels, head east. Towards the school. That's where you're likely to find them," he said. "If you don't make it out, I'll do what I can to stop the Harvest m'self."

The four of them nodded and started through the doorway. Faith turned back to William. "You gonna wish us luck?" she asked. When William said nothing, she just shook her head and followed the others into the darkness.

Thanks to her werewolf hearing, Santana heard him mutter "Good luck," they all disappeared from sight.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

By the time Bill and the three girls had reached the tunnels, their eyes had adjusted to the darkness. The climbed down a ladder and looked around, taking the tunnel's in. They were very dark and forbidding, and went on in all directions. They started down the tunnel going east as William had suggested.

Faith, of all people, jumped a bit as a rat went scurrying by them. "shut up," she said, trying to retain her dignity as Bill and Buffy exchanged a smirk.

Bill turned to Santana. "Ok, I think you need to lead," he said. "We all have slightly enhanced senses thanks to the Slayer thing, but, probably nothing compared to being a werewolf." Santana nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating. She led the three of them down the tunnel, stopping at the end to listen. She nodded down another tunnel, continuing east.

"Ok," she said after they'd walked a few. "So, crosses, garlic, stake through the heart?"

"That'll get it done," said Bill nodding.

"Sunlight, holy water, fire, beheading...the usual," added Faith.

"I take it you've done some beheadings?" asked Santana.

"I have,"said Buffy. "There was this one time, I was pinned down by this vamp who played varsity tackle, well ,before being turned, anyway, he had one of those really thick necks, and all I had was this little x-acto knife, so I..." She paused at the funny look on Santana's face. "You're not exactly loving this story, are you?"

Santana chuckled a bit." Actually, i find it oddly comforting," she said.

"You're weird," said Faith with a chuckle.

The four of them walked in silence for a bit, each lost in their own thoughts. Santana noticed the further they went, the fewer rats there were. She shuddered at what that must mean.

"They're close," announced Buffy. Her siblings nodded.

"Let me guess," said Santana, sardonically. "No more rats?"

"The one time no rats constitutes a BAD thing," agreed Bill, smirking.

Santana sniffed the air."Over there," she said . "What's that?" She got a funny look on her face as she indicated a small side chamber. Nothing was visible for the first few inches, but she was SURE she smelled Quinn's scent, so she wandered inside. The others followed her, and she paused a moment, seeing two bodies lying on the floor. Something was off though

"Quinn, Jesse," said Buffy , as he and Faith both knelt down by them, Bill standing back, looking down the corridor, assuming a defensive posture. Faith took Jesse by the shoulder only to barely dodge a punch as Jesse shot up swinging.

"Get off me you...Faith?" said Jesse.

"Jesse, you ok?" asked Faith, helping him stand.

"Man, I am not ok on an epic scale," said Jesse, seeming to barely keep himself coherent. "We gotta get out of here, like NOW!"

Buffy looked about to reassure him when Quinn suddenly sat up, taking in a deep gasping breath.

"Quinn," said Santana, kneeling by her, helping her to stand.

"Santana?" questioned Quinn. "What the hell is..."

"We can talk later," said Bill, taking charge. "Let's get these two back to the library."

Jesse, nodded, then put a hand on Buffy's arm as shey all turned back. "Wait," he said. "I know a faster way!" They all started down the direction Jesse indicated. Bill shook his head. He didn't have Buffy's "Slayer dreams" but, he'd developed a sixth sense since their shared calling, and something felt wrong, but, he couldn't put his finger on it.

Suddenly Santana, who was supporting Quinn, froze. "Oh. My. God," she said. She steadied Quinn then reached out and spun Jesse around. Her eyes glowed yellow as her claws came out and she slashed him across the chest,knocking him down.

"Santana! What the hell?" asked Bill, but then he looked at Jesse.

Jesse had risen much too quickly for the wound he had taken. His face had morphed into full vamp mode. "Kill joy!" he snarled at Santana, though he stood back, clearly respecting the odds.

"Jesse," Quinn practically whimpered. Bill reached over and squeezed her hand.

"Uh oh," said Jesse with a smirk." I think you guys are in trouble," They all looked up to see shadows coming from down the direction Jesse had tried to lead them.

Buffy looked down the corridor. "Run," she said.

"Yeah," said Bill. "I think you're right!"

The Summers and Santana took off down from the way they came, propelling Quinn along ahead of them. Unfortunately,though she was doing well, Quinn couldn't run as fast as they could and they heard the vampire hoard behind them getting closer and closer. Suddenly, the vampires were upon them.

Buffy and Santana reacted first,Buffy spinning around and staking a skinny male vamp with long, greasy hair as Santana slashed at another. Faith spun and punched one in the jaw, knocking him back as Bill picked up another and threw him into several of his fellows.

The only thing working in our heroes favor was that there was only room for so many vampires to face them at once. The bad news was, there were at least three vamps for every vamp they staked. As one, they surged forward, a flurry of punches, kicks, and claw strokes. Bill unloaded on a vampire, punching him repeatedly in the face, stunning him. He wasted no time in staking him, instead turning to the next. Quinn grabbed the stake from Bill's hand and knelt down and staked the one Faith had just stunned.

Buffy and Faith each kicked a vampire, making them go up back to back against each other, then staked them in unison. Quinn staked another vampire that Bill had stunned as Santana clawed another to ribbons. Working together, the five of them managed to create a small hole for themselves.

"RUN!" ordered Buffy as they all five again took off down the directing the girls and Bill had come from. The vampires were hot on their heels but, they just managed to stay ahead of them. Finally, they reached the stairs and climbed them swiftly, wasting no time exiting the mausoleum and heading out into the daylight, one vampire not paying attention and following them. He screamed as he started to smoke, and Faith grabbed him and slammed him into the ground.

"Fry you mother fucker!" she snarled as he he burst into flames.

As they all caught their breath, Santana sniffed the air and spun around. Bill and the others all spun to see William, standing there with a fist buried in the backs of Brittany and Xander's shirts.

"I caught Nick and Nora here skulking around after you guys left," he said. "Figured I'd keep them out of..." He paused and stared at Quinn, who stared at him in return. "What the fuck?" he whispered as the others looked at them, confused.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Giles sat alone in the library, pouring through his dusty old tomes, looking for mention of this Harvest. He found something likely.

"For they shall gather," he read aloud to himself. "and be gathered. All that is theirs, shall be his. From the Vessel pours life." He paused a moment to ponder that. "Pours life." He thought for a moment then turned the page, to see an engraving. In the engraving, a bestial fellow was holding his hand out, commanding a throng of villagers, all of whom were bleeding. Below, in a hellish landscape, a demon was glowing with power. On the bestial ones forehead there was a crude symbol. A star with three points. Giles continued to read.

"On the night of the crescent moon, the first past the solstice, it will come," He stopped and looked up. "Tonight!" He heard the library door open and looked over. "Buffy?" he called hopefully.

"Sorry, it's just us," said Willow, shaking her head as she and Marley entered.

"So, no word?" asked Marley, worried about her siblings

Giles sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not as yet," he said tiredly.

"Well, said Willow hopefully. "I'm sure they're just great."

Giles nodded. "Did you find anything of interest?" he asked.

Willow and Marley spread some computer printouts onto Giles' desk. "I think maybe," Willow said. "We looked through some old newspapers, around the time of that big earthquake back in '37. And for several months before that, there was a rash of murders."

"Great!" Giles exclaimed excitedly, then looked a little chagrined. "I...I mean not great in a GOOD way...Go on."

Marley flipped through the printed articles. "They appear to be the kind you were looking for. Throats, blood, months, and not even a clue."

Giles looked at the articles they was showing him and shook his head. "it's all coming together. And I rather wish it weren't!"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

In the sunken church, the Master stood at his alter, watching as Darla and

another vampire lit a series of candles along each wall leading up to the alter. He listened halfheartedly to the chanting of his minions. He was fuming. All the work baiting the trap, and those thrice damned teenagers had gotten away! He was now more convinced than ever that at least one of the girls was a

Slayer, possibly both, in addition to the werewolf, though what was the story with the boy? And HOW had the blonde girl survived? He had turned her and the boy himself!

Ah well, he thought. I'm glad they are so strong. It will be nice having someone WORTH killing when I rise. He turned his attention back to the ritual.

Luke stepped forward, removing his shirt, and walked towards the Master and kneeling at his feet. The Master held his hand forward, and Luke reverently kissed it. The Master turned his hand with his open palm up so Luke could kiss that was well. Then, Luke gently took the Masters wrist in his hand, pressed his lips to it...

And bit into it. The Master winced and closed his eyes. Luke fed for a moment, then reared his head back with unholy pain.

"My blood runs with yours," intoned the Master. "My soul is your province."

"My body is your instrument," said Luke.

The Master dipped his finger tip in the blood flowing from his wrist, and used it to paint the three pointed star on Luke's forehead. When he was done, he turned to face the assembled and spoke:

"On this most hallowed night,we are one. Luke is the vessel. Every soul he takes shall feed me. Their souls will grant me the power to free myself. Tonight I will walk the Earth... and the stars themselves will hide."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please be sure to let me know what you think.


	8. Chapter 7 The Harvest Pt 3

**Chapter Seven The Harvest Pt 3**

 ** _London, England, 1880_**

 _Drusilla smiled down at the dead young man in her arms. Daddy had told her to go make herslef a playmate, and she had found her knight. "Sweet William," she cooed as she carried him towards the nearby woods. "Mummy will bury you then, soon, you'll rise and we'll be together forever."_

 _Suddenly, William moved in her arms. His head, which had been lolling there to the side shot up and he took in a deep gasping breath. Dru frowned. He wasn't supposed to rise this soon! And why was he breathing?_

 _"What-what happened?" asked William, looking confused at Dru. Suddenly his eyes went wide as he remembered._

 _This was weird. Drusilla was SURE she'd done everything right, but, apparently William hadn't died. Another vampire might have thought this out a little more, but Dru merely put on her demon face, leaned in, and sunk her teeth back into William's neck._

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Faith and the others, looking somewhat worse for wear, walked into the library a short time later. Faith herself stuck close to Brittany and Xander, as Buffy stuck closer to Santana, and Bill had a supportive arm around Quinn, though she seemed plenty strong. The new guy, William, hung back behind them.

Marley, Giles and Willow all stood. "Did you find them?" Willow asked, then noticed Quinn was with them.

Buffy stared at the ground, not even looking at Willow. "yeah," she said, tersely.

Marley looked at them all. "Jesse's dead, isn't he?" she said.

"Worse," answered Santana, softly.

"I'm sorry, Willow," said Buffy sadly. "We were too late. And they were waiting for us."

Willow shook her head. "At least you guys are ok," she said, sadly.

Xander took that moment to savagely kicked a trash can across the room in frustration. "I don't like vampires," he announced. "I'm gonna to take a stand and say, they're not good!" Santana nodded in agreement. Marley walked over to him and put an hand on his arm.

Giles looked thoughtful. "They turned Jesse?" he asked. He looked at Quinn. "But they didn't turn you? That makes no sense."

"I was thinking the same thing,' said Bill. "but she went up into the sunlight with us. I heard her breathing hard several times, and, and her skin is warm to the touch."

"Plus, I could tell Jesse was a vampire by the way he smelled," added Santana. "Quinn doesn't smell the same."

"Quinn,' said Brittany softly, breaking away from Faith and taking Quinn's hand and leading her to a seat. Both sat down and Santana sat on the other side of them. "What happened in there?"

Quinn buried her face in her hands. It was all coming back to her.

"They took us as offerings for the Master," she said. "That big goon, Luke, and the blonde, Darla, told the Master about fighting you guys, about how strong you were , and that Santana was a werewolf and you guys were "Slayers", or might be, or something. "Then, they said they were going to use me and Jesse as bait to trap you guys. I thought for a minute they were gonna let us live, but then, they gave the Master his offerings. He fed off Jesse, then made Jesse drink some of his own blood before Jesse died."

"What about you?" asked Bill, his voice barely above a whisper.

Tears started down Quinn's face. "Same thing," she said hoarsely. "I felt the blood draining from my body. I felt myself dying as I drank the Masters blood. I remember thinking of you guys and praying I wouldn't hurt you when I turned. Then, I died and the next thing I knew, I woke up in that tunnel." She looked at Giles imploringly. "what the fuck happened to me? I know I'm not a vampire, but I'm not the same as I was before, either."

Santana and Quinn wrapped their arms around Faith, Bill and Buffy came up behind the three seated girls, Faith's hands on Brittany's shoulders, Buffy's on Santana's and Bill's on Quinns. Marley and the others just watched them helplessly.

Quinn looked at Giles again. "What am I?" she asked, sounding every bit like the little girl lost.

"I can answer that," came Williams voice from behind them. Faith had almost forgotten he was there. She smirked a little as Marley, Giles and Willow all looked at him, surprised. Apparently, they hadn't noticed him when they all came in.

"Who are you?" asked Giles, looking at him suspisciously.

William smiled. "My name is William Pratt," he said. "I was born in the year 1853 in London, England. In 1880, a vampire named Drusilla tried to turn me, with the same results the Master had trying to turn you."He gave Quinn a smile. I'm Immortal, Luv, and I am not alone. You are too."

Quinn just looked at him, blankly. "What?" she asked.

Giles got a more speculative look on his face. Faith looked at him. "Do you know anything about this?" she asked.

Giles sighed and nodded. "Yes," he said. "My order, the Watchers Council knows of the existence of the Immortals. In addition to training and supervising Slayers and girls who have the potential to become Slayers, one section of our group has been observing them and chronicling their exploits for centuries, going back to when one of us saw the legendary hero Gilgamesh rise from the dead." he looked at William. "I've read of you. Most recently from the writings of your current Watcher. Apparently, you're doing more than playing The Game."

William nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I've made it my mission to deal with Drusilla and the rest of her vampire "family".

"The Whirlwind," said Giles with a breath. William nodded.

"Wait, wait, wait," Santana broke in. "We can get back into Vampire Identification 101 later." She looked at William. "What do you mean Quinn is Immortal?"

William smirked at her. "Right lil spitfire, in't she?" he said. He turned to the others, focusing mostly on Quinn and continued.

"For centuries we've walked among you, living many secret lives, constantly fighting each other to the death. The winner takes his opponents head, and with it, his power. Biding our time until the Gathering, when the few remaining immortals shall battle it out for The Prize. In the end, there can be only one."

"What prize?" asked Bill, gripping Quinn's shoulder.

"Nobody knows," said William. "I just know that, in the end, those of us who are left, even those who do not choose to play the game, will be compelled to fight it out. We're Immortal, Quinn. We can only be killed if our heads are severed from our bodies."

"So, what brings you HERE?" asked Faith.

"You best not be after this girls head," put in Giles.

William chuckled. "Relax," he said. "Some Immortals WILL seek out a newbie for an easy Quickening." He saw Quinn's confused look. "The Quickening is what happens when one immortal kills another. The victor absorbs the eaten's power. I don't really play the Game, I defend myself if someone comes looking for me, but i don't go headhunting, as it were." he looked at the others. "A few months ago, a goofy looking little bloke in a bad suit approached me, claiming to be an agent of The Powers That Be."

"The who that what?" asked Buffy. Marley, Xander, and Willow seemed content just to listen.

"They're higher beings," answered Giles. "The work to preserve the balance between good and evil. They never intervene directly, they work through agents."

"Got it in one," William told him, chuckling. "Anyway, this agent, Whistler was his name," approached me and told me about this prophecy about the Three who were called, and the ones who were to help them."He looked at Faith, Buffy and Bill. "I was there the night you all discovered that Bill and Faith were Slayers too. I was curious as to why you needed me, with there being three of you, and with others who were to help you, but, now that I meet this one," he indicated Quinn. "I understand."

Quinn looked at him. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Face it, Luv," William told her. "I think you're one of the ones destined to help the Three. I think you are the Warrior. I'm pretty sure Spitfire here is the Wolf. You'll find you're stronger and faster than a normal human, but not to their level. Plus, you'll find a natural ability with weapons, especially swords. You need to be trained. Even if you weren't supposed to help these three, you WILLhave other Immortals hounding you. You need to learn how to stay alive. I can help you with that."

"This is crazy," whimpered Quinn as she started to cry. Bill pulled her up into his arms and hugged her tightly.

"It's ok," he said. "I've got you. We'll all get through this together."

"You mentioned a prophecy?" Giles asked William.

"You can find it in the writings of Rudolphus of Crete," answered William. Giles rolled his eyes. Faith wasn't sure, but she thought she heard Giles mutter "pompous git" echoing Williams earlier words about Mr. Of Crete.

Faith exchanged a glance with her siblings. Giles and the others were supposed to be researching thie Harvest thingy. Apparently, Buffy had the same thought.

"So," said Buffy. "Jesse is a vampire. Santana is a werewolf, and Quinn is Immortal. Giles, do you have anything that could possibly make this day any weirder?"

Giles, looking like he was remembering something, turned grave. "How about the end of the world?" he asked.

"I knew we could count on you,"said Faith , ironically.

"This is what we know," said Giles going into full lecture mode. "some sixty years ago, a very old, very powerful vampire came to this shore. And not just to feed."

"He came because this town is a mystical whosit?" Buffy concluded, as they sat down.

"Yes,"said Giles. "The Spanish who first settled here called it Boca Del Infierno.

"The Hellmouth," translated Santana.

"Yes," continued Giles. "A sort of portal, from this reality to the next. The vampire hoped to open it."

"And bring the demons back ," piped in Marley.

"The end of the world,"said Xander.

"But he blew it," Willow picked up the story. "Or, I mean, there was an earthquake that swallowed about half the town. And him too."

"Or, at least, there were no more vampire type killings afterward," added Marley.

Giles pulled up a chair, a thoughtful look on his face. "Opening dimensional portals is a tricky business," he said. "Odds are, he got himself stuck, like a cork in a bottle."

"And this Harvest thing is to get him out?" Bill asked.

"It comes once every century," said Giles. "On this night. A Master can draw on the power from one of its minions as it feeds. Enough power to break free and open the portal. The minion is called the Vessel, and he bears this symbol." He pointed to a sketch of the three pointed star.

"So," said Buffy, making an attempt at cheerfulness. "We just dust anybody sporting this look, and no Harvest."

Giles blinked and nodded. "Simply put, yes," he confirmed.

"Any clue where this little get together is being held?" asked Quinn, pulling out of Bill's arms. Brittany stepped up to her.

"You ok?" she asked.

"Not really," answered Quinn. "But, right now, I don't think i have time to melt down."

"Well, there are any number of possibilities..." began Giles.

Xander looked up. "They're going to the Bronze."

"Are you sure?" asked Willow.

"Come on, it makes perfect sense," said Xander. "Tasty young morsels all over the place. Besides, that's where Jesse's gonna be. Trust me." The others nodded.

"it makes sense," said William. "He's gonna need a LOT of power to break free."

"Then we need to get there,"said Giles, sounding tense. "The sun will be down before long."

"I'll come with you,"said William. "You're gonna need all the help you can get." He looekd at Quinn and smiled. "Plus, I can keep an eye on this one."

"Ok," said Faith. "I think we're all ready."

The rest of them stood and, as one, the eleven of them turned and left the library.

"We gotta make a stop first, though," said Buffy, indicating herself and her siblings. "Won't take long."

"What for?" asked Giles.

"Supplies," said Bill, matter of factly.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Buffy and her siblings quietly entered their house and went up to the girls bedroom. They had to hurry. Dusk was already approaching. They went into their room and immediately to the closet. Bill had a couple of things in his room, but, they kept most of their Slaying paraphernalia in here.

"Kids?" They heard their mothers voice call out. They pretended not to hear her and continued rooting through their closet as Joyce entered their room.

"Are you going out?" Joyce asked, in that challenging way only a mother could speak.

"We have to," answered Buffy simply.

"I didn't hear you come in last night," said Joyce.

"We were quiet," answered Bill. "We know how hard you work and didn't want to bother you while you were relaxing."

Joyce paused for a moment. "it's happening again, isn't it?" she finally said, a tired tone in her voice.

The siblings stopped what they were doing and looked at her.

"I got a call from your new principal today," said Joyce, now definitely not pleased. She indicated Buffy, Bill and Faith. "He said that not one, not two, but all three of you missed some classes today."

"We were ...running an errand," said Faith, lamely. The others rolled their eyes as Buffy pulled an old trunk out of the closet.

"We haven't even finished unpacking," said Joyce worried. "it's only your second day and I'm already getting calls. Skipping classes, staying out all night. And you're dragging Marley into it this time!"

Buffy glanced out the window at the darkening sky and exchanged a look with Faith and Bill. She looked back to their mother, a note of desperation in her voice. "Mom, I promise, it's not gonna be like it was before, but, we HAVE to go."

"No," said Joyce, simply.

"Wait, what?' said Buffy, confused. Her siblings all had the same look on their of them could remember the last time Joyce had simply said "No".

Joyce, perhaps a touch awkwardly, stood her ground. "I said "no" kids,"she said, setting her jaw. "The tapes all say I should get used to saying it.

No."

"Mom," pleaded Bill. "This is really really important."

"I know," said Joyce with a wave of her hand. " You have to go or it'll be the end of the world. I was sixteen years old once. Everything is life or death."

Faith sighed. "Mom, we really don't have time to talk about this," she said.

"You have all the time in the world," said Joyce, shaking her head sadly. "You're not going anywhere. You can stay in your rooms and sulk if you want to, but I'm going downstairs to make dinner. If you want to come down and eat with me I would love to have you." She left the room and closed the door, quietly but firmly behind her.

Marley looked at her siblings. " You guys REALLY need to go,' she said. I'll try to keep Mom distracted," she said. "But, you guys be careful. Somehow, I think Quinn is the only one who is Immortal."

Bill smiled and have her a big hug. "Thanks, squirt," he said. "We promise, we'll be careful." Marley hugged both Buffy and Faith and left the room.

After Marley left, Buffy rooted through the trunk, removing a number of the usual teenage girl items. She then removed a false bottom and loaded down a bag with crosses, holy water, and stakes. Finally, almost reverently, each of them removed a particularly nasty looking stake and slid it either up the sleeve of their r jackets or into the waistband of their pants . These had been their first stakes, given to them by their first Watcher, Merrick. Faith also reached in and took out the kukri knife Merrick had dropped that first night. She'd claimed it when he died. Buffy's eyes misted over as she briefly replayed the mans death in her mind. She angrily wiped them, seeing Faith do the same as Bill just looked angry, and they all headed over to the window, crawling out, hoping their little sister could keep their Mom occupied until they either saved the world, or it ended.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0


	9. Chapter 8 The Harvest Pt 4

**Chapter 8 The Harvest Pt 4**

At the Bronze, looking downright amazing in a black mini dress if she did say so herself, Cordelia held court over her little band or Cordette's. She liked some of them, but some were just pathetic little followers.

"Senior boys are the only way to go,"she said as though imparting the wisdom of Solomon. "they're just a better class of person. The boys in our grade? Forget about it. They're children. Like Jesse...did you see him last night? The way he follows me around. He's like a puppy dog. You just want to put him to sleep. Senior boys have mystery. They have...what's the word I', looking for? Cars."

One of the girls, Cindy, started to say something, but Cordelia plowed on. "I'm just not the type to settle," she said. "Like when I go into a store, I have to get the most expensive thing. Not because it's expensive, but because it costs more." Cindy started to speak again but Cordelia cut her off. "Excuse me, Miss Motormouth. Can I get in a word edgewise here?" She stopped as the DJ started a new song. "Oh! I love this song!" Without a word, she headed out to the dance floor, knowing her loyal subjects would follow.

It was good to be the queen.

As Cordy and her group danced, Jesse entered the Bronze. People who knew him were surprised as he walked in. He looked and dressed the same, but gone was the awkward, kinda endearingly goofy boy they knew. He now moved with an easy confidence and a sort of predatory grace. He looked around and found what he was looking for.

Cordelia looked up as Jesse approached. Not quite walking up to her, more moving around her, his eyes never leaving her. Cordy saw the same change everybody else had in Jesse, and for the first time in her life, did not look away in disgust.

The music changed to a slow song and she and her friends stopped dancing and went to go back to their own table. Cordelia found her way blocked by Jesse, who was smiling a distant smile. "What do you want?" she asked, her tone holding every bit of her trademark bitchiness, but, inside, not feeling nearly as confident as she acted.

Jesse took her hand and started leading her to the dance floor. "Hey!" exclaimed Cordelia indignantly. "Hello, caveman brain! What do you think you're doing."

Her tummy did a flip as Jesse just gave her a winning smile and quietly said "Shut up." He led her to the middle of the dance floor and started dancing with her, holding her, but barely touching her.

"Ok," Cordelia said breathlessly, trying to make it look like she was granting him a huge boon. "One dance." She moved closer as Jesse smirked.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Luke and Darla led the way as their group of vampires walked purposefully up to the entrance of the Bronze. It was funny in a way. The blood Luke was planning to drain from his victims was supposed to energize the Master so he could escape his prison, but, after drinking the Master's blood, Luke himself felt energized. He truly saw no way the Master would not be freed tonight.

The bouncer looked up at them. "I need to see some ID," he said. They ignored him and started to walk past him. "Hey! Nobody gets inside until I see some..."

Luke turned and stood over the man, his face mere inches from the bouncers. "Get inside," he ordered quietly. The bouncer gulped and complied.

Once inside, the vampires spread out, two staying to watch the main entrance, others going to cover all the other exits. One slid over the bar and covered the door behind it, another going upstairs.

Darla went over by the stage to the backstage entrance. She went in and made sure the back door was secure, then went over to the fusebox and flipped a switch.

People gasped and murmured as the main lights and the music cut off. A shadowy figure stepped onto the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Luke, stepping into the lone spotlight, infull vamp face, the spotlight making it look even scarier. "There is no cause for alarm." He paused and smiled evilly. "Actually, there's plenty of cause for alarm. It just won't do you any good."

Cordelia looked up at the stage from where she and Jesse stood. "What is this, some new grunge band? I didn't think there WAS a band tonight," she asked then looked at Jesse, who had also put on his vamp face. She gasped and tried to pull away, but he was too strong and pulled her into the darkness under the stairs.

Darla came out and stood, looking up at the stage, as Luke stood there, rather dramatically she thought, with his arms spread wide.

"Tonight is a glorious night!" he announced to the scared mass of people. "Though, it is the last night any of you will ever see. Bring me the first!"

One of the minions pushed the bouncer onto the stage. The large man was scared and babbling. "What do you guys want?" he asked. "You want money? Man, what's wrong with your faces?"

Luke grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and squeezed, effectively cutting off any further conversation from him. "Watch me people," he ordered the crowd. He looked into the bouncers eyes. "Their fear is elixer. It's almost as good as blood!" With that he pulled the man closer and buried his fangs into the mans neck, drinking his blood in huge gulps.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Across town, in the sunken church, the Master threw back his head, his whole body lighting up as energy coursed through him. "Yes," he whispered. "Yes. Soon."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Back at the Bronze, Luke finished draining the bouncer and tossed him aside. "Next," he called out, grinning at the whimpers of the gathered crowd.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Quinn looked at her watch as the group waited for the Summers' to get there. She wasn't sure exactly WHAT the tiny Slayer and her siblings were getting, but, getting supplies could NOT take this long! She could see by the look in her eyes Santana and Britt both felt the same way. Her two old friends hadf been sticking pretty close to her after William's revelation.

"Were they robbing a sodding military base for those supplies?" quipped William, lighting a cigarette. Britt, Giles and Willow all looked at him disapprovingly, while Santana wrinkled her nose in disgust, probably due to her werewolf senses. Quinn could kind of understand his smoking though. It wasn't as if he had to worry about cancer.

Neither did she, come to think of it.

"There they are!" said Brittany, pulling Quinn out of her musings. Quinn looked to see Bill, Buffy and Faith come running up. She smirked as Bill ran right up to her, Faith to Britt, and Buffy up to Santana, who was right by the door.

"Where's Marley?" asked Xander, concerned.

"At home with our Mom," answered Faith. "We kinda got grounded, so, Marley is distracting Mom for us."

"It's locked," announced Bill as he tried the door.

"We're too late," said Giles, almost scoldingly.

"Well, we didn't know we were gonna get grounded!" Buffy protested defensively.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Gee, Slayer," she said."Maybe next time you should just ask for a spanking. It's over quicker" Quinn rolled her eyes as she noticed Santanna's eyes glaze over a little as she got the mental image. "Perv," she whispered. Britt, who had also noticed, was laughing softly.

"Shut up!" said Buffy irritatedly.

Xander shook his head as he indicated the door. "Can you guys break it down?" he asked.

"Not this thing," answered Bill. " Not even with all four of us working together. It's like the door to a fucking bomb shelter."

Buffy looked around the group. "You guys try around back. We'll will find our own way,' she said, indicating herself, Bill and Faith.

"Right," said Giles,. He turned to the other's. "Come on."

"Guys!" called Buffy. She handed them her bag of tricks. "You guys clear the exit and get people out. That's all. Don't go all wild bunch on me." She turned to William and Santana. " I'm counting on you to keep them safe." Santana nodded at her. Quinn rolled her eyes again. She may be new to this Immortal thing, but she was a far cry from helpless.

"See you on the inside," Giles said to Buffy as the seven of them took off.

They got around to the back of the Bronze to find that door too was locked.

"Dammit," groused Xander. "We've got to get in there before Jesse does something stupider than usual!"

"Xander," Giles said in his almost scolding tone. " Jesse is dead. You have to remember that if you see him. You're not looking at your friend. You're looking at the thing that killed him." Xander glared at him but didn't say anything.

"Now what?" said an irritated Quinn

Santana looked at the door. "It's nowhere near as strong as the main door,"s he said. "I should be able to kick it in. Quinn, having not seen Santana's transformation before, gaped as Santana's eyes started to glow yellow, her hair got a bit wilder, her nose flattened a little, and her ears and teeth elongated. She flicked both of her wrists and her claws aome out.

"Stand back," she instructed the others as she turned and pulled back her leg to kick the door.

-0-0-0-0-0-00-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Around front, Bill looked upwards. "Guys," he said, pointing to a second story window that was open. "Think you can make the jump?"

Buffy looked. "You better give us a boost to be sure," she said.

"You got it," said Bill, kneeling down and cupping his hands. "Be prepared to pull me in." Buffy nodded, ran three steps towards him and put her foot in his hands. Bill stood straight, and pushed his arms upwards as Buffy jumped. Between the two of them, she went sailing through the window and did a small somersault, springing to her feet. she turned to see Faith make a slightly less graceful entrance, then Bill, scrambling through the window. She and Faith each grabbed arm and pulled.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Inside, Luke finished draining his third victim, a young girl. He felt flush with power as he turned to face his hostages, all scared, some whimpreing, a few actually screamed.

Darla walked over and took Cordelia's arm, having a brief tug of war with Jesse over the struggling girl.

"This one is mine," said Jesse, territorially.

"They're ALL for the Master," sneered Darla, pulling Cordelia way from him.

Jesse just looked confused. "I don't get one?" he asked nobody in particular.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Buffy, Faith and Bill surveyed their surroundings. Ahead of them. they saw a lone vampire standing on the balcony they had talked to Giles on earlier. They walked up and stood right next to the totally oblivious vampire. They looked over to see Luke, standing on the stage. "I feel him rising,"Luke announced. "I need another!" They saw the three-pointed star painted in blood on his forehead and looked at each other.

"The Vessel," they all said.

The vampire heard them and turned. He smiled, thinking he'd found three new sacrifices for the Master.

Luke, meanwhile, was in his glory, burning with power and with the rush of knowing his Master would soon be free. "Tonight is his ascension!" he announced to people who had no clue what he was talking about. "Tonight will be History at it's end. Yours is a glorious sacrifice. Degradation most holy." He paused, and looked at the sheep before him. "What? No volunteers?"

Darla pulled Cordelia onto the stage. "Here's a pretty one," she said.

"Noooooo," whimpered Cordelia, still struggling. She started crying as Luke grabbed her. He was just about to bite her when he was distracted by the sounds of a scuffle from the , a vampire came sailing over the balcony and landed on his back in front of the stage, looking much the worse for wear . The vampires all looked up at the balcony.

"Oh, sorry," said Faith sarcastically. "Did we break your concentration?"

Luke looked up at them, his eyes meeting Buffy's. "YOU!" he snarled.

"You didn't think we'd miss this, did you?" asked Bill, challengingly.

Luke smiled evilly. "Actually," he said. "I'd HOPED you'd come."

Buffy put her hands on the rail of the balcony and flipped herself backwards over it, landing on a pool table below. She then did a handspring, grabbing a pool cue that was lying on the table, and landed on the floor holding the cue like a staff.

Faith followed suit and landed next to Buffy, sans pool cue, and whipped out her special knife.

Bill rolled his eyes at his sisters theatrics and simply jumped over the rail, landing on his feet on the pool table, then jumped onto the floor next to Buffy and Faith, whipping out his stake.

Meanwhile, out back, Santana gave the door a final kick and it burst open. She and William went rushing in, Quinn and Xander close behind them, Giles, Brittany and Willow bringing up the rear.

Three vampires charged Buffy, Bill and Faith, one from each side, one from the front. Never taking her eyes off Luke, Buffy flipped the pool cue and jammed the skinny end into the heart of one of them. She let go of the cue and both the vampire and it exploded into dust. Faith grabbed the other, punched him in the face a few times, then flipped him to the floor and staked him. Bill grabbed the front one as he charged in, and headbutted him, then picked him up and flung him over the bar, bottles lined up on the shelves behind the bar shattering on the impact.

"I'll take Big Ugly," Buffy told her siblings. "You guys, Santana and William keep the others off me."

"You're SO bossy!" Bill jokingly claimed.

"Hey, both Slayer and the oldest here!" Buffy shot back

"TWO minutes!" grumbled just rolled her eyes and nodded as Buffy walked towards Luke.

"Okay, vessel boy, want blood?" she said defiantly.

Luke shoved Cordelia aside. "I want YOURS!" he announced. "Only yours."

"Come and get it!" Buffy snarled as she ran towards the stage and leaped at Luke, slamming her fist into his face, knocking him back. He counter attacked but Buffy ducked his punch, and came back up with a roundhouse kick to his face. Buffy grinned as she whipped out her stake and stabbed at Luke's chest, but he blocked and swung a vicious blow to her face, nailing her and knocking her down onto her butt, the force of the blow making her slide back into the corner. "Ok,' she said, a bit dazed. "OW!"

Faith and Bill stood side by side, their weapons at the ready. Most of the vampires didn't seem to realize that they were Slayers as well as Buffy. Three of them rushed at them. Faith met one with a roundhouse right that knocked him down, Bill punched another in the jaw with the fist that held his stake, sort of using the stake like a roll of quarters, knocking him down as well but the third barelled into him, figuring since Bill was bigger than Faith, he must be the greater threat. The two struggled but Bill finally broke his grip. He threw a left, which the vamp blocked. It swung back at him, but Bill ducked, then stood up quickly ramming his head into the vamps jaw. He felt rather than saw the second vamp get up, and greeted it's charge with a kick to the gut. He grabbed the first vamp by it's jacket and headbutted him, then kneed him in the groin and dusted him. He turned to face the other, only to receive a punch to the jaw.

Faith, meanwhile fought the other. He threw a punch, which she ducked, then followed with a kick to his stomach. The vampire doubled over and Faith brought her knee up into his jaw, then slashed him across the chest with her knife, knocking him back.

William, Santana and Xander were the first three to come from backstage and into the Bronze proper, Quinn and Brittany close behind them. They saw no vamps in the immediate vicinity, turned and nodded to each other. Xander and Brittany started herding people out, as William reached back into the collar of his duster and produced a long sword with a slightly curved blade, a katana, from somewhere and he and Santana waded into the fight. Quinn gripped the stake she'd taken from Buffy's bag and followed Santana, figuring her claws and teeth, while damaging, might not be the best weapons for actually dusting a vampire.

"Come on!" called Xander as he and Brittany herded the panicked crowd towards the back exit. Giles, and Willow had just come in, and were hurrying them along. Xander failed to see a vampire sneaking up on him from behind.

William faced off with a rather scruffy looking vampire and swung at him with his sword. The vamp dodged backwards, then charged, trying to get around the sword. While not as strong or as fast as the vampire, William was clearly a very skilled sword fighter he dodged and thrust out his sword and the vampire wound up impaling himself. Of course, this didn't kill him, but, it made him double over and William brought the sword down, taking his head off, causing him to explode into dust.

Santana charged into a small group of vampires, her claws lashing out. She slashed and dodged, obviously as strong as and faster than most of them. Quinn had been right, Santana clawed one of them to ribbons, but, he fell to the ground stunned, not dusted. Quinn knelt and rammed the stake through the creatures breastbone and into it's unbeating heart, causing it to explode to dust. "Thank you Dr. Gregory," she said of her biology teacher. She stood and turned to find another vampire lying on the floor bleeding as Santana leaped into another.

"Lather, rinse, repeat," quipped Quinn as she staked the downed vampire.

Luke advanced on Buffy, smiling predatorially. She lashed out with both feet and kicked him in the chest, causing him to fly back and land hard. Buffy leapt to her feet and was about to go in for the kill when she saw the vamp grab Xander from behind. She turned to the drum kit and kicked the cymbal clean off it's perch. She caught the cymbal in mid air, then turned and hurled it frisbee style at the vampire who had Xander. It turned, hearing the noise. It's eyes went wide, just before the cymbal sliced neatly through his neck. Xander turned in time to see the head disintigrate in mid air. he turned to Buffy and smirked. "Heads up," he said.

Buffy started to laugh at her friends bad pun, but Luke had recovered. He reached out and grabbed her from behind, scooping her up into a crushing bear hug,

Faith was having trouble with the vampire she was facing. He was clearly a bit older and more experienced than the others. She hadn't taken too many punishing blows, but, hadn't really dealt any our either. The two traded blows, almost looking like they were dancing as the vamp threw punches and she slashed with her knife, then dodged and weaved. She threw a punch at his jaw that connected, actually knocking the vampire back, she grinned and pressed her attack, only to meet a spin kick that knocked HER back, causing her to lose her grip on her knife. Both paused for a moment, sizing each other up.

Bill, meanwhile, was having problems of his own. He was now facing THREE vampires, and barely keeping them at bay. He cursed. While he was as strong as Buffy, and probably a better fighter, being slower was clearly hurting him in this fight. Suddenly, a foot caught him in the ribs, knocking the wind out of him, then a fist caught him in the jaw, and the third vampire buffalo punched him from behind, knocking him to the ground.

William cursed as he saw Bill go down. He started forward to help the reckless young man, but suddenly Darla was standing before him, holding a thick table leg. "Hello, William," she said, smirking.

"Ello, Darla," he said back. "You're alone. Angelus finally get tired of ya?"

Darla rolled her eyes. "Angelus and the Master don't get along, so, when I decided to come back to him, Angelus stuck with Dru. Last I heard, the twit got it in her head to go to Prague or some such."

William nodded. "Well, you'll just have to go alone then," he told her. After Drusilla had tried to sire him, causing his first death, William had made it his mission to take out Dru and her vampire family. He swung his sword at her, but Darla managed to block it with the table leg.

"Don't count on it," said Darla. "You're pretty good with that sword, but I'm still stronger and faster." She proved her point by swinging the table leg at him, nearly catching him in the jaw, though, he got his sword up in time to block.

"Swell," he muttered as Darla pressed her attack.

Xander was about to go help Buffy, but,he heard a shriek. He turned to see Jesse, single minded as always, dragging Cordelia back under the stairs. He threw Cordy to the ground and pinned her.

"Hold STILL," Jesse snarled exasperatedly at Cordelia. "You're NOT making this any easier!"

"I'm SO sorry!" Cordelia spat back at him, clawing at his face. She was scared but she was Queen C, dammit!

Xander started towards them, but, he was tackled from behind by a vampire. He let out a yell as the vampire grabbed his shoulders and pulled him closer, his fangs brushing his neck. Suddenly, Xander heard a crashing sound and the vampire fell to the floor, looking up in surprise. Xander looked to see Brittany standing there holding a broken chair that she'd hit the vampire with. Xander grinned and picked up a piece of the chair, rising at the same time as the vampire and smashing him in the face with it. Britt then cracked the vampire with the part of the chair she was holding, shattering it. The dizzy vampire charged at Xander, who dodged, sending the vamp crashing through a table. Xander leaped on top of him and turned him over. "Stake him, Britt!" he yelled, temporarily able to hold the stunned vampire down. Brittany nodded and grabbed one of the broken legs of the chair and rammed it through the vampires heart. The two exchanged a nod as they stood and looked around to see who needed help.

Bill struggled as two of the vampire pulled him to his feet, and the third moved in on him. "You fought pretty well," said the vampire. "But, you're no Slayer." Bill struggled more as the vampire bared his fangs and moved in towards Bill's neck. Bill spared a quick look around the room, seeing Jesse and Cordelia. He was the only one close enough to help her!

Cordelia's plight gave Bill a burst of energy. He threw the two vampires off of himself and turned to the third, whose eyes widened. Bill gave him a grin and threw a punch, which caught the vampire under the jaw, knocking him back and down. Bill looked over and saw his stake on the floor. He dove for it as the vampire got up and started towards him. Bill grabbed the stake and did a rather impressive somersault, rising to his feet and staking the vampire.

Santana barrelled into the other two vampires, a stake bearing Quinn hot on her trail, so Bill ran forwards and dragged Jesse off of Cordelia just as he was about to bite her.

"Bill!" said Jesse as Bill pulled him to his feet.

Buffy struggled, but was unable to get out of Lukes grasp. Sensing victory, he started to squeeze harder.

"I've always wanted to kill a Slayer!" he snarled triumphantly. It had been a source of shame to him that he had never killed one. He squeezed even harder, and Buffy felt her ribs starting to crack.

People were still rushing to the rear entrance, making a bit of a bottle neck. Giles turned to Willow. "Come on," he said. "We need to get the front doors open as well!" They started to the front, but a vampire pounced on them, knocking all three to the floor. Giles tried to fight, but he was no match for the vampire. He punched Giles, dazing him, then grabbed hold of Giles, his fangs ready to rip out his throat.

"Jesse," said Bill.

"Trying to reason with me?" he asked. " Let's deal with this, Jesse was an excruciating loser who couldn't get a date with anyone in the sighted community! But look at me now! I'm a new man!" He grabbed Bill by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him close, throwing a punch which Bill blocked.

"Actually," said Bill, twisting Jesse's arm, showing he was stronger than Jesse. He punched him in the jaw with his free hand. "I was gonna say "goodbye"."

Santana had stunned one of the vampires Bill had been fighting before and turned to the other as Quinn staked the first. "A werewolf," sneered the vampire. "Your kind doesn't even make a good meal."

"Sorry to disappoint," growled Santana. Both she and Quinn looked and saw William in a bizarre swordfight with Darla, who was holding a table leg instead of a sword. It looked like she was wearing him down. "Go," said Santana. "I've got this one." Quinn nodded and passed off her stake to Santana, pulling a second one out of her belt.

Quinn ran up behind Darla, who was taunting William.

"Poor Dru,' she said. "Even if you didn't turn, she still had a soft spot for you. She got through Williams defenses and managed to clip him upside his head, stunning him, but not knocking him out. She regarded him speculatively as she raised the table leg. "I'll decapitate you with your own sword." Just as she was about to bring the table leg down on his head, she felt a stabbing pain in her back, just to the right of her heart. She turned to see Quinn, now weaponless.

"Oh, shit," said Quinn, realizing she'd missed the heart.

Darla snarled at her and backhanded her, sending Quinn flying.

Unfortunately for Darla, this was the opening William needed. She turned back to see his katana swinging towards her neck with the precision of a seasoned Immortal. "Angelus!" she whispered as she felt the sword go through her neck and she exploded into dust.

"One down, muttered William as he turned to see how the others were faring.

Willow dug frantically through Buffy's bag, looking for something that might help her save Giles. She pulled out a jar of holy water. "Get OFF him!" she yelled to the vampire, who had Giles pinned to the floor. He looked up at Willow only to be doused with holy water. He screamed and his hands went to his face, smoke coming from between his fingers. He started to run screaming into the night, but, ran straight into a stake thrust from Brittany, who had seen their plight and come over to help them. Xander, who was with her, reached down to help Giles up as Brittany turned to Willow.

"Nice moves," she said smiling. Willow just gave her a weak smile in return.

Faith, meanwhile, had finally gotten the upper hand on her vampire. She'd hit him with, well, a table, stunning him, and was pressing her attack. She looked over to see Santana, pressing her own attack against the last of the vampires Bill had been fighting. Both looked up to see Buffy's fight with Luke, and knew they needed to help her. Both seemed to get a burst of energy, and started totally unloading on their foes. Faith throwing a series of punches and kicks as Santana clawed left and right, stunning both vampires and driving them backwards, until the collided into each other. that stunned the vampires, driving them towards each other until they were standing back to back. Faith pulled out the stake she was still carrying and, as one she and Santana slammed their stakes home, dusting them. They did a high five as Quinn walked up to them.

"Synchronized slaying," she mused with a grin as Brittany joined them. They all looked over to see William covering Giles, Xander and Willow as they got the front door open and people began flooding out that way as well . "New Olympic event?"

Faith and Santana and Britt all rolled their eyes and laughed at Quinn , then turned to the stage.

Unfortunately for Jesse, though he had a vampire's strength and speed, he was no match for Bill, who would be tougher and a better fighter than Jesse without their powers. It didn't take him long to beat Jesse down, then pull his stake out. He wanted to say he was sorry, but, he knew that was not really Jesse in there, so, he just slammed his stake home, causing Jesse to burst into ash. He reached down and took Cordelia's hand, pulling her to her feet.

"W-what the HELL was that?" she asked him, looking at him somewhat starry eyed.

Bill turned Cordelia to where Giles and the others were. "Go," he said. "I'll explain later." He turned and started towards the stage, where Buffy was still caught in Luke's bearhug.

Santana reached the stage first to look up and see Buffy's head lolling to the side as she went limp in Lukes grasp. Luke snarled and leaned in closer. "Master," he called out. "Taste of this and be free!"

Just as he was about to sink his fangs into her throat, Buffy threw her head back and head butted him in the face, causing him to let go and reel back.

"How'd it taste?" she asked. But, despite her bravado she was weak. The fight was taking a lot out of her. She grabbed up the cymbal stand, holding it like a weapon,

"You forget," Luke told her. "Metal can't kill me." He swatted the cymbal stand out of Buffy's grasp, sending it flying to land at Santana's feet. Suddenly, Bill and Faith were standing next to her. Bill pointed to the painted black window, one huge pane, behind the stage. Santana and Faith both nodded.

"You've forgotten something too, asshole," called out Faith as Santana picked up the cymbal stand. Buffy looked where Bill's eyes were pointed and got the idea.

Luke paused, less confident now. What could he possibly have forgotten?

"Sunrise," said Santana in answer to his unspoken question. With that, she hurled the cymbal stand with all her might, causing it to shatter the plate glass window behind Luke.

Warm light streamed in the window and washed over Luke. He screamed and raised his hands as if to ward it off. Then, nothing. No pain, no burning. Nothing. He stopped, puzzled, and Buffy, who had retrieved her stake, thrust it right through his heart.

"it's in about nine hours, moron," she quipped. Luke's last thought as he exploded to dust was "Streetlight!"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

In the sunken church, the Master suddenly doubled over in pain, feeling the extra energy leave him, feeling his body stop glowing with power. He looked around confused. He reached out to the invisible wall that kept him trapped her and found it as strong as ever. "No," he said, almost pleadingly. he tried again. "NO!" he yelled this time. He looked around his prison. He'd failed. The Slayer had won! He threw his head back and unleashed a scream/bellow/roar with absolutely no humanity in it.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

William, Quinn and Brittany walked up next to Bill, Faith and Santana as Buffy hopped off the stage. He stood back as the six teens exchanged hugs. Then, all seven of them turned to see two vampires, who had clearly taken stock of the situation and had decided to split. They all laughed as the vampires brushed past Giles, Xander, and Willow and run out of the club into the night.

"I take it it's over," said Giles, taking in the carnage.

"Does that mean we won?" asked a still slightly dazed Willow.

. "Well, we averted the apocalypse," Buffy said. "You GOTTA give us points for that." She exchanged small smiles with Bill, Faith, Santana, Brittany and Quinn. She and her siblings had felt a bond with the girls Xander called The Unholy Trinity, and, after tonight, the bond felt even stronger.

Giles turned to William. "And you took out the first member of the Whirlwind. What're you gonna do now?"

"I'm sticking around, for awhile, anyway," answered William. "Quinn needs training, and Angelus and Dru are bound to find out I offed Darla. They might come looking." He grinned at the Slayers and their friends. "wouldn't hurt to have backup."

Quinn smiled at him. "Well, I for one, am glad you're staying," she said.

Xander shook his head. He'd lost his best friend today. People he'd known for most of his life were werewolves and Immortals. And his new friends were all Slayers.

"One thing is for sure," he quipped. "Nothing is EVER going to be the same.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Epilogue

The next morning, things at Sunnydale high were exactly the same as always. Birds were singing, the sun was shining, and kids were talking and laughing and carrying on. Buffy stood with her siblings and their new friends and watched as Cordelia's friend, Harmony, regaled Cordelia's "Cordettes" as Xander called them, with the story of what happened the previous evening.

"Well, I heard it was rival gangs,' she was saying. "And get this, those new kids, the Summers', totally knew these guys! Which is too weird. I can't really remember everything too well, but it was a total freak show! And those new kids were the BIGGEST freaks."" the others nodded as they passed by the gang.

Cordelia walked up to them, having heard everything. "They're not freaks, Harm," she said. "Bill actually SAVED me." None of the Cordette's seemed to know what to say to that, so they all just kept walking. Cordelia turned, gave Bill a smile, then went to join them

Xander watched the girls walk by with a look of total disbelief on his face.

Marley smirked at the boy as she stood next to him "What were you expecting?" she asked

"I don't know," said Xander exasperatedly. "The dead rose!"

"We should have at least had an assembly," Brittany threw in.

"People have a tendency to rationalize what they can and forget what they can't," said Giles, sagely.

"Believe me," said Faith. "We've seen it happen."

"Well," said Willow. "I'll never forget it. None of it." Xander and Brittany nodded in agreement.

"Good," said Giles nodding. "Next time you'll be prepared."

"Wait, what?" asked Brittany.

"NEXT time?" added Xander.

"and next time is WHY?" asked Willow.

Giles chuckled. "We stopped the Master from freeing himself and opening the mouth of hell," he explained. "But that doesn't mean he'll stop trying."

"I'd say the fun is just beginning," said Bill.

"More vampires?" asked Willow, nervously.

"Not just vampires," said Giles, comforting nobody. "The next creature we face may be something quite different."

"I can hardly wait," said Buffy, sarcastically.

"We're at the center of a mystical convergence," explained Giles. "We may in fact stand between the earth and total destruction."

"But, no pressure," scoffed Quinn.

"Thanks for the pep talk, coach," said Faith, shaking her head at Giles.

Xander turned to Buffy. "Buffy, this isn't good," he said.

Buffy exchanged a look with her siblings, as well as Quinn and Santana. " Well, we just gotta look on the bright side," she said. " Maybe we can still get kicked out of school." Faith and Bill laughed and all three smiled at Giles and started off, the other five keeping up with them.

"Now THERE'S a plan," said Faith.

"'Cause a lot of schools aren't on Hellmouths," added Xander.

"OH!" said Willow helpfully. Maybe you could blow something up!"

"Yeah," said Santana as she and Brittany bumped shoulders, giggling. " They're really strict about that."

Marley laughed. "If I know Buffy, she was thinking of a more subtle approach," she said. "Like excessive not studying."

"Been there, done that,' said Bill making his sisters roll their eyes.

Giles shook his head as they walked off. "The earth is doomed," he said softly before heading to the library.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A/N: So, a few more changes this chapter. LOL. This chapter was a big part of the inspiration to change things to where Bill had gotten Slayer power from both Buffy and Faith to Buffy being a full Slayer and Bill and Faith splitting Faith's power. For fights like the one with Luke, I felt a full powered Slayer was needed, but, the thing about Bill being able to temporarily return the power he got from Buffy or Faith felt weird upon re-read. You guys might disagree, but, I hope the change isn't a bad thing for you. Then there was Wraith Jesse. Poor Jesse. I was feeling like there were just getting to be too many empowered characters, especially with the Witch still coming, and while I liked what I was doing with the Wraith thing, Jesse in that role just wasn't working for me, so he seemed the most sacrificable character. Again, I hope nobody hates me for doing it, but this was where I felt I needed to go to make the story better. If you want to review the new chapter, please shoot me an IM or do it as a review for the chapter announcing the revision. Also, I worked really hard at the revising and have checked things over two or three times, but, I still might have made mistakes, so, please let me know if I left anything in that was part of how the story originally went. Thanks.


	10. ANNOUNCEMENT

**ANNOUNCEMENT. This story has been revised. There were a couple of things I didn't really feel worked with the original version, so I have made some changes, and done a little editing. I've replaced all the chapters, though, most are essentially the same with a little editing. The biggest changes I made were to the prologue and chapters 1 and 8. I hope nobody has a problem with this, it's just what I felt I needed to do. If you have already reviewed a revised chapter and want to review the new version, please either shoot me an IM or review it as a review for this chapter. Thanks and i really hope you all like the changes.**

 **Bill (aka DaBillmann)**


	11. ATTENTION READERS

Dear Readers,

My apologies for how long it has been between updates for any of my stories. Things got a little crazier around here in general and THEN I wound up in the hospital with a really bad infection that nearly cost me at least part of my left foot. I just got out of the hospital after a week and two surgeries and am still looking at a month or two recovery time at least. Part of me is hoping that during the recovery, I'll at least have more time to write, but, frankly, in this moment, I just don't know if I have any inspiration, thanks to the stress, and I am unsure how long I can sit at my computer at a time. So, as I have said so many times before, my stories are not abandoned, or on an official hiatus, I just want everybody to know that, I have no idea when I will post in any of them. I know some of you are really enjoying some of them, and so am I, so, I'm sorry for this. As said, I'll try to keep some writing done, especially since writing has been a stress relief for me in the past.

Thanks in advance for your understanding,

Bill aka DaBillmann


End file.
